The Rise of the Storm
by Packerfan95
Summary: Have you wonder about Lucas Wu's past? Why he ever ran away? How he learned Spinjitzu? How he became the Ninja of Water? This story will take you on an adventure of Lucas' time training with Garmadon and see how he became the ninja he is today. How he learned to fight and defend himself. Along with a little adventures of his own. I own Lucas Wu to my stories, not Ninjago.
1. Prologue

**Finally this story is posted. Everything will be first person view of Lucas and this is my first time doing this than the other way I wrote my stories. Enjoy.**

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**Prologue**

My past. My past has an interesting tale. My brothers only know little detail of it. Including my father and cousin. Many have wondered how I became the person I am today. And I've been silent to respond as they were dark memories to me now for I've been learning the arts of Spinjitzu from my uncle and how I trained my body to fight and defend.

In my past, I was filled with rage. Rage towards my father. I was angry at him for I overheard him that I wasn't destined to be the strongest ninja. So I done something that any ten-year-old would do if he was filled with rage to not be the destined one. Even after all the training I done with him, I still wasn't the chosen one. I ran away.

And once I left my home, I was a free man. Or child as I was only ten. But being ten and walking around the woods with only a backpack full of clothes and the clothes I had on was a bit scary. I didn't know where to go since I was angry at my father. And my mother was dead. I thought I was lost until a couple hours later I was captured by the skeletons of the Underworld and framed as a spy.

After I was captured and thrown into a sack, I found myself in the Underworld and in front of me was a black-skinned figure with crimson eyes. My uncle. Garmadon. He knew it was me as his nephew and saw the anger and hatred I had on my father and I told him that I wanted to become the strongest ninja in Ninjago. And I later became his apprentice.

I learned the art of Spinjitzu from him. I trained my body to learn how to fight and defend myself. I even found my element as I grew stronger. And as I grew, I became the Ninja of Water and obtained my dragon, Storm, along with my golden weapons, The Sai's of Water. And my main objective was to destroy my father's students of Spinjitzu to prove myself I was stronger and powerful than them.

But after I realized who I was, after being forced to drink Remembrance Tea, I saw how I hurted my father in the past when I left and saw that I made a terrible mistake. My father always said that: A true ninja doesn't depend on strength to win a fight, but depends on his heart to protect those he cares for. I realized who I was as my father was about to be killed and I prevailed it and unlocked my True Potential and used it to escape the apprenticeship of Garmadon.

After I left the Underworld, I reunited with my father and became a brother to his students. I soon adjusted my life as a ninja to them for over a month. Learning that my cousin was the chosen one. Traning and fighting beside my brothers. And teaching my cousin the arts of water. Everything was calm until everything went wrong.

My uncle possessed my brothers with the Great Devourer's venom to make them his slaves. Captured my father and sister, who is the samurai. And my cousin and I were on the run to avoid capture from them as we searched for a cure. And as those days went by, I discovered a new power to my element and we both used it to fight against my uncle and cured our brothers. But after we saved everyone, my uncle was bargaining my father and sister's life if we didn't surrender to him. And I couldn't let that happen to him or any of them, so I surrendered myself as his apprentice and he released everyone.

It was one of the hardest choices I've done.

After I left, I felt broken and depressed. I left my father heartbroken as I did to save him from death, twice. I left my cousin depressed after we became close as a family when it was just us to save everyone. And as the days went by, my tension to the Serpentine were anger and hatred to them. Including a certain Hypnobrai general, Skales. I prevented him and the other generals of their plans as they were going to harm and kidnap my cousin to hold him as a hostage to my uncle if he didn't surrender to them. And during a war between good and evil, I destroyed an ancient artifact that was connected to two worlds and reclaimed myself as a ninja as I found out my uncle's true intentions as I trained as his apprentice.

My past is interesting tale. I learned to fight as a ninja. I learned my mistakes. I've been beaten of false accusation. Whipped for betrayal, which later became that it was to make me weak. Learned my uncle's true plans when I came to the Underworld as he was going to use me as a hostage to make my father give up the remaining golden weapons, but instead used my anger as an advantage to become his apprentice. And worst of all, I was poison and died in my father's arms as I sacrificed my life as my propechy said it would happen. But I rose back from the dead with new life as I and another ninja are chosen to become guardians to the chosen one that will protect Ninjago as he grows.

I am Lucas James Wu. And this is my tale on how I became the Ninja of Water. And it all started at the age of ten.

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**I know that you've already this in Realizations and Consequences, but tomorrow I'll update again and will be updating on every friday. Have a great day.**


	2. Wake-up Call

**Here's the today update I'm promised yesterday. ya know I'd thought that I wouldn't get to do soundtracks and what do you know, I got one.**

**watch?v=_pGaz_qN0cw on youtube and when you see the mark,*, enjoy. Have a wonderful day and hope you enjoy this chapter. **

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**Chapter 1: Wake-up Call**

I opened my eyes after a restful sleep. I woke up the sweet music of robins and mockingbirds chirps in the woods below my home. Sunlight broke through the paper covered windows to illuminate my bedroom. A soft breeze rattled the paper as it was being pushed without ripping or tearing. I smiled as a new day has begun. A brand new day to train myself as the strongest ninja the world will ever see.

My name is Lucas. I have been training since my father, Wu, told me about the prophecy of the Green Ninja. I train my body to fight so I can become the powerful ninja in Ninjago. My father will be proud of me. And my mother, she may be gone, but she'll be proud of me too. But in order for that to happen as my father says: I must train. And to train, I must master Spinjitzu. The martial arts first performed and created by my grandfather.

I sat up from lying on my bed and stretched me arms as I fell asleep on them. Once they felt stretched to me, I reached to my left to my window and moved it aside to open it. I breathed in the fresh air as I gazed as the scenery for my home, the Monastery Dojo, was on top of a mountain. It was beautiful. Peaceful. Lovely as I gaze the view every day and every morning. A new day has begun.

_Creak._ I turned my head away from the window as I heard the wooden floors creak as I knew someone was coming to wake me up for my training. My father. And this time I wanted to surprise him to show him how well-trained I became so far as a ninja. I'm ten. So I like playing tricks on him. And I have a good one for him.

I quickly kick the sheets off and got out of bed. I then took my pillow and laid it where I was and quickly threw the covers over it. I snickered as it looked like I was still asleep and needed to hide. I looked around to find a spot and smiled as I found one. Since I had my grey ankle socks on, I quietly ran to a corner near my door, jumped, and grabbed the beam that supported the roof, while my other hand supported my weight as it was pressed against the wall with my feet spread out to support myself in the corner. I snickered more as I thought it was the best one. Now I needed to wait for him.

I watched as my door slid open and held my breath as my father walked in. I can see that he was dressed in his navy blue kimono with his blonde hair striking against it with bits of grey mixed in along with his grey eyes. I can tell he was getting old with a trimmed grey beard growing. That and he always walked around the dojo with a bamboo staff. It didn't bother me much as I love him as my father since he's all I got left in a family since my mother passed away when I was nine. And my uncle, I don't know where he is, my father won't tell me. But for now, I just watched with a grin as he came closer to my trap.

"Wake up, my son." my father said cheerily, as he stood by my bedside. "A new day has begun. A new day to train." But silence clung in the air. "Lucas?" and tapped the hidden pillow with his staff. He hummed in deep thought and looked at the open window.

I gasped as I left a flaw in my trick. I left my window open. My father knows that I always open my window to let fresh air in when I wake up and I forgot to close it to make it like I was still asleep. He was gonna find out soon. As I would say: It's now or never. A ninja never gives up.

I prepared my muscles to launch myself at my father and needed to time it perfectly. Once I found it, I gave a small shout and launched myself to tackle my father. But something was wrong. I caught my father smirking as he looked behind his shoulders at me and jumped up. I grunted as I made contact to my bed and made the pillow reveal itself and quickly flipped my body to watch my father perform a backflip and landed in front of me with the end of his staff lightly on my chest. My trick was back fired. I failed.

*****My father chuckled at my attempt. "Excellent work, my son." he said and removed the staff off my chest. "But you left a flaw in your plan, so I easily beaten you. A ninja must be aware of his surroundings when planning tactics. Otherwise his enemies will know his presence."

"I'll do better next time, Dad." I smiled and sat on my mattress.

"And I know you will." he smiled back and stood by my door. Before he left, he looked back as I fixed my bed. "Get yourself washed up and meet me outside for morning stretches."

"Okay, Dad." I replied as the comforter was under my pillow.

"Ah, ah, what do you call me when we train?" he asked.

I chuckled. "Yes, Sensei." and my father nodded and left me in peace with privacy. I slid the door close and went to my private bathroom. I quickly showered to wake the rest of my still asleep muscles. After I finished and dried off and dressed in a clean white shirt and black training pant, I stared myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. I looked at my reflection as my brown hair was short and I always wondered how it would look if I grew it out without my father cutting it, but kept it short. My eyes were a rare color as my father always said to me. Hazel grey. My fathers are grey and my mothers were hazel. Hazel grey for me.

Once I think two minutes passed for brushing my teeth, I spat out the foamy minty paste and ran out of my bathroom. I threw on a clean pair of grey ankle socks and my grey tennis shoes. For an unknown reason, I've always been fond of the color grey. Not to light. Not to dark. Just plain and relaxing. Once I tied the laces tight, I ran out of my room with excitement; hoping to perform Spinjitzu.

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**Hoped you enjoyd the chapter with the soundtrack and remember that every friday, I'll update. See you guys next week. **


	3. Training

**Hello everyone, Happy Friday. You know what it means today, another update of my story. Let's see what Lucas is going to do today. Enjoy**

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**Chapter 2: Training**

"Swooping Crane."

I stretched my arms out while raising my right knee above my waist. My father tapped my foot with his staff to make me raise my knee higher as I do my morning stretches. I looked down to see how I was doing, but my father tapped underneath my chin to lift my head up. I closed my eyes as I thought about balance to keep my weight even. As I took deep breaths on my stretches, I felt my knee being tapped and I knew I had to switch legs and rested my right foot on the cobblestone courtyard of my home, the Monastery Dojo. Once I felt my balance regained, I lifted my left knee above my waist and repeated the stretch.

"Pinching Crab." my father commanded for my next stretch.

I rested my left foot back on the ground and spread my legs apart. I then squated down while my hands were at my shoulder height and acted as pinchers of a crab. I can feel my muscles being stretched in this position. My legs mostly. I couldn't help it, but I begin to scurry to the side while clamping my hands as a crab would.

My father heard my giggling and turned around to see me acting as a crab. "Lucas!" he snapped at me and tapped his staff on the stone ground.

I immediately stopped and stood up. All stretched and prepared. I heard my father sigh, but smiled at me as I'm only ten and was having fun before training to be a ninja. My father reached into his kimono and pulled out an apple and tossed it to me. I caught it as it was my breakfast before training and smiled at him as a thank you. _Crunch._ I munched on my apple and felt trails of juice escape the corners of my lips. Once I finished it to the core, I tossed it in the trash can and my father and I were at the starting line of the obstacle course.

My father lifted a small dragon bust to show a button and pressed it. In the center of the courtyard, the dragon statue began to rise from the ground with a punching bag and spiked ball rotating. Two more rotating equipments rose from the cobblestone ground with swords and axes rotating. Wooden beams to balance, but they don't remain still and when you apply pressure on them, they launch you in the air. Rotating wing-chuns. Wooden planks that swing and sway at your feet to hit your legs. I was pumped as I'm ready to learn Spinjitzu.

"In order for you to master Spinjitzu." my father began the lesson. "You must train yourself to harness the power. Remember, over the planks, dodge the swords, here comes the dummy."

I nodded and prepared myself to run. But stopped and looked at my father. "Dad-I mean Sensei," I corrected myself. "Can you show me your Spinjitzu? I know I seen it many times, but I want to see it again."

My father smiled. "I don't see why not." he replied and stood in front of me. "Pay attention, Lucas. Ninja-Go!" and spun around in his Spinjitzu.

I grinned in joy as I saw his golden torando. Someday that'll be me. But in green. But my smile slowly disappeared and my eyes grew wide as my father was drawing closer to me with his Spinjitzu still spinning. I slowly backed away, but was enveloped inside. My world was spinning and everything was a blur. My father moved away from me and I was still spinning and felt dizzy and fell to the ground.

I slowly gained my conscious and balance backed and got up to my feet. When I was rubbing my head as I felt nauseated to stand and noticed my arm was in black cloth and looked at my body to see I was dressed in a black ninja suit. I looked at my hands to see I had black gloves on. A mask over my face to conceal my identity. I looked at my father to wonder what happened to my previous clothing and why I was wearing this. And my father just smiled at me. "In order for you to be a ninja," he said while holding a wooden sword. "You might as well be dressed as one." and tossed the fake sword to me.

I smiled underneath my mask as I felt like a real ninja and caught the wooden sword to frown at it. I haven't been a fan for swords because they require me to use both hands to fight with it and I want to fight with both hands. The nunchucks, I always hit my head with them. The scythe, I nearly cut myself when I try to practice with the real weapon. The bo staff is said to be the hardest to master so I fail everytime when I practice by hitting the back of my head. But the shurikens I favor the most. I'm able to hit the center of the targets because I have accuriate aim with them along with knives and anything else that I can throw at a target. So they may be my weapon of choice when I become the strongest ninja.

"Remember Lucas," my father continued. "Over the planks. Dodge the swords. Here comes the dummy." I nodded in reply and preapred myself to train.

I watched the planks swing and sway on the ground. The wing-chuns rotating in vigerous speeds. The blades of swords and axes rotated in circle that could slice someone in half. The wooden beams popping out of the ground like gophers. And in the center, the punching bag and spiked ball swung out; ready to hit me. It didn't matter. I was ready.

I charged at the planks and jumped over them while performing a cartwheel without the hands. Over the planks. I landed on the rotating equipment that had the swords and had to run in place while dodging them. I ducked and jumped between two blades to avoid them. Dodge the swords. I then jumped out of the way and landed in the center. Here comes the dummy. I turned around too late and gasped as the punching bag was literally in front of me and made contact to my chest.

I felt the wind was knocked out of my chest. I knew I was flying back because my feet don't feel solid ground. I gave out a painful grunt as my back made contact to the cobblestone ground and landed near my father. He looked at me with worry as I tried and struggled to breathe again. Once I felt the cool mountain air refill my lungs, I looked at my father and gripped my wooden sword tightly. "Again." I said and quickly got back to my feet and charged at the obstacle course.

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**Hoped you enjoyed today's chapter. I know I did when I wrote this chapter. Have a wonderful day today and see you next week for another update on Lucas Wu. P.S. Have a wonderful weekend. **


	4. Leaving

**Happy Friday everyone. It's time for another update with another soundtrack for this chapter. I heard this one a long time ago and thought it was perfect for a certain part in my story. Type in the link watch?v=dgaQuJOq9b0, play it on the mark, *, and enjoy. **

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**Chapter 3: Leaving**

I collapsed on my bed exhausted. I removed my mask and tossed it on my pillow as I was perpendicular on my bed. The cool night air from my window felt great on my face as sweat dripped down on my face as my day of training has ended. But tomorrow will be another day of training.

My training has been exhausting that I can barely keep myself on my feet. Failing multiple times on the obstacle course. Learning to fight in the dark without a light source. Weapons training was painful, except with the shurikens on target practice. Scaling the mountain side and nearly slipped a few times. I didn't mind the mathematics and other academic lessons from the tutor my father hired. But my day was brutal. I didn't mind as I was one step closer to master Spinjitzu and become the powerful ninja the world will see.

I lifted my head to look at my clock on my bedside table and saw I had an hour before bed. With all strength I had left, I lift myself off of my comfortable bed, changed out of my suit, and ran to my bathroom. After I showered the sweat and dirt off of my face, I changed into a clean pair of pajamas and brushed my teeth for the night. Unlike most ten-year-olds, they don't brush at all, but I do if I want a good hygiene. Once I spat out the paste and rinsed my mouth, I walked out of my bathroom to fold my ninja suit and place it on my desk and closed my window. After that was taken care of, I looked back at my clock and saw I had half an hour left before nine. So I decided to say good-night to my father and left my room.

Walking through the East Wing of the dojo was quiet to me as my socks kept my footfalls quiet. Quiet as a ghost town even. I quietly walked down the halls, through the living room and my fathers meditation room until I finally reached the West Wing. I looked up to see a candle light ahead that lead to my father's room and smiled to know he was still awake. I quietly tip-toed to his opened door to surprise him before bed and snickered as I was still a ninja to train more. I didn't care if I was exhausted from training all day, I wanted to have a little fun that's all. But stopped as I heard him talking.

"So what do you mean he's not the destined one?" my father asked.

Who was my father talking to? The only people I know that live in the dojo are me and my father. Not my mother because she is dead. I don't want to talk about it though, as it scares me everytime I think about it. But still who? I sticked to the shadows and slowly and carefully peered around the door to see my father talking to himself to a mirror. I was glad his only source of light was a candle so he couldn't see me through the mirror as I kept myself hidden. I was still curious to know why he was talking to himself and leaned my right ear closer to hear more.

"He is not the destined one." my father said in a quiet tone this time. "For Lucas has a different destiny to fulfill."

My father sighed in relief. "I'm just relieved to know that he's not the green ninja to fight against my brother." he said in his normal voice. "I couldn't bear the thought of him getting hurt or worse in the Final Battle. What is his destiny then?"

*****I dare not listen to more and turned my head away. I clenched my fists tightly as my blood boiled in anger and could hear it pounding in my ears. The words echoed in my head as I kept hearing it over and over in my head. I wasn't the green ninja. I peered-no-glared at my father from the corner of his door and left without saying good-night to him.

I shutted my door real hard and ran to my bed. I screamed in rage in my pillow to muffle my anger at my father. The words kept repeating in my head wouldn't leave me alone. I wasn't the chosen one. Then what was the point of training if I wasn't the destined one? Angrily, I lifted my head up and punched my pillow to release my anger out and it kept consuming me.

"All of that training and I can't be the green ninja!" I say angrily. "What was the point of training then!?"

I was glad my father was a heavy sleeper and his room was on the other side of the dojo so he couldn't hear my rage being released. With heavy breaths through my teeth in anger, I looked at the shelves that hung on my wall filled with ming potteries and jumped to swing a round-house kick to forcefully remove them off the shelves and watched them shatter on the wooden floor. I ran to my bed and flipped the mattress off with anger. I then ran into my bathroom and shoved the contents off of my sink. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw the fire in my hazel grey eyes and left to release more rage. I grabbed the back of my small bookcase of books and used my renewed strength and pulled it to make it timber on the floor with the miscallenous books spreading on the floor. The ball that rested on top of the bookcase rolled on the floor and I used the rest of my anger and kicked it across my room and watched it break through my paper-covered window.

I was breathing heavily still as I slowly calmed myself down. I was still mad at my father and I now hated him. Then something came to me. I looked around my room as it was destroyed from my rage. I looked at my suit and mask on the desk as it laid untouched from my hatred. I then looked at the window as it was broken from my anger as well. The idea became more clearer to me as I kept thinking more on it as I hate him.

I'm gonna run away.

I quickly changed out of my pajamas and into my black suit. With the black gloves over my fingers and palms and the black mask over my face, I quickly grabbed a small backpack and threw my pajamas in them with other clothes of mine including my toothbrush and toothpaste; prepared. I ran over to my desk and saw my flute on the desk and threw it in as well. I then took a pen and paper and made a fake ransom note to make my father believe I was kidnapped based off of the condition to my room. Once it was finished, I smirked as it was fool proof this time. It read: We have your son. If you bother to come and search for him, we'll kill him. So stay away or you'll never see him again. May not sound like a great kidnapping ransom note, but it was all I could think of.

With the note thrown on the floor, I slung the bag over my shoulders with my arms through the straps; ready to leave. I looked at my door and saw it was impossible to use as my floor in front of it was littered with broken shards of pottery that could cut my feet. I needed a new way out. I felt a cool breeze breathe on the back of my neck and turned to see the hole in my paper window. Smirking, I found my way out.

I hopped on my flipped mattress and moved my window aside to open it more and climbed out. I gasped as I saw the fall that could kill me in the dark abyss of the mountain base and pressed my back against the wall. I dug my heels into my windowsill and began to regret my choice of escape until I looked up to see the clay-tiled roof above me. It's not over yet. I turned my body to make sure I was hugging the wall and saw I needed to jump a couple feet back in order to reach the rain gutters. I've been training and this will prove my ways of a ninja. I hunched my legs muscles to prepare to jump back and launched myself back with a good height and grabbed onto the rain gutter.

I sighed as I made it safe without falling and just hung there to calm my body. _Gggrrroooaaann. Crreeaakk._ That didn't sound good. Suddenly, the nail that held the rain gutter to my left gave way and gave a small shriek as my only hope that the other nail didn't gave way as I clung onto life. My heart was racing against my chest like a drum as my legs were wrapped around the now verticle gutter and I saw darkness below me; Death. I looked at the only nail as it was starting to become weak to my weight and saw it starting to slip. I dare not scream as I know my father is a heavy sleeper, but will wake up to my cries and I didn't need him anymore. I quickly climbed up as the nail was giving way and launched myself onto the roof of the wall as the nail finally gave way and the gutter fell to the mountain base. To that, I sighed in relief as I laid on the slanted clay-tiled roof as I was still alive.

Once I felt my heart return to normal beats and the adrenaline leaving, I carefully got myself to my feet and stabilized my balance as I walked on the roof of the surrounding wall that was connected to the dojo. Once I was facing the courtyard, I jumped off the roof and tucked myself into a ball as I made contact to the cobblestone and rolled on the ground. I felt dizzy for rolling on the ground like a bowling ball and slowly got to my feet. I unzipped my bag to check on my belongings and sighed in relief as my flute was safe and zipped my bag closed.

I slung the backpack over my shoulders and walked to the doors of the gate and pushed them open. I looked over my shoulders one last time of my home and left with the door closed behind me. As I walked down the steps to the mountain base, I looked over my shoulders again to glare at my home as I hate my father and looked away as I continued to run away. Without looking back. Or thinking twice.

I was gone.

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**Hope you enjoyed this chapter with soundtrack. Leave a review on what you thought of it and see you all next week. Have a wonderful weekend. :)**


	5. Captured

**Happy Friday, everyone. Time for another update on Rise of the Storm. Let's see what Lucas is going to do now after he ran away. Enjoy**

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**Chapter 4: Captured**

I did it. I was free. Free from my father as he wasn't leading me to my path as the destined and strongest ninja. Free from his protection as I was on my own in the woods. I can take care of myself. I trekked through the forest as I pushed branches out of my way to stay away from my home. I felt tired as it was past my bedtime, but didn't care as I wanted to move farther and farther away.

And yet, I didn't know where to go.

There was no way I was going back to the dojo as I hated my father. What was I going to do? Where was I going to find shelter? Food? And water? Just this one time I appreciate my father for taking me out in the woods and giving me survival skills. I know how to start a fire well and know the perfect apple tree nearby that I can use for my source of food. But what about water?

As I trekked through the woods, it sent shivers down my spine. There was the occasional owl hoot and wolf howl in the distance. Even the darkness of the forest sent shivers down farther and I don't have a weapon to defend myself. What if something attacks me and I didn't have anything to defend myself with? I decided to wait until morning to think on my tactics. But for now, I needed to get farther away from my father.

As the night grew, the temperature kept dropping. It was March. The weather would be warming up, but oddly the temperature at night was freezing. I shivered in my black suit and hugged my chest to warm myself, but my teeth still chattered to the cold. I needed to find shelter before I freeze to death or pass out from exhaustion on the lack of sleep.

I came across a hollow underneath an oak tree and smiled to find shelter finally and crawled in. Inside was large enough for me to crawl through without hitting my head to the roots above me. Must've been an abandon home from a bear or fox, but didn't matter as I'll need it for shelter. I broke branches from the tree I was under and weaved them to act as a door for the entrance of the hollow and layered dead leaves to cover them to block the wind. I then found some pine needles and grabbed armfuls of them and threw them on the ground in the hollow and then grabbed more dead leaves and used them to shape then into a small bed for me to rest.

With my handiwork on making shelter and exhaustion crawling up on me, I took my small door and covered the entrance of my shelter, but wind still blew through the small cracks and didn't bother with them and slowly and tiredly crawled into my make-shift bed. The leaves provided minimal comfort and I used my bag as a pillow for my head. I did not take off my mask as it now provided warmth to my face as it was slightly warmer in my shelter. I wished I packed a blanket with me, but I was in a rush to escape from my father and didn't have time to get one packed. I rolled to my side and tucked my knees into my chest to conserve my body heat and instantly fell asleep.

...

_Snap._ The sound of a branch breaking woke me up fast. _Snap. Snap._ I quickly sat up and grunted in pain as I held my head in pain as I forgot I was in a cramp hole in the ground._ Snap._ I carefully crawled to my door to peek through the cracks to see it was still dark outside. How long was I asleep for? Hours? Or minutes? I still felt exhausted as it was probably a wild animal trekking through the woods and I tiredly crawled back to my bed of leaves. But suddenly begin to smell smoke.

I was coughing through my mask as my throat burned. Was the woods on fire!? I quickly grabbed my bag and crawled my way out of the hollow. After I kicked my door down, I crawled out in the open to see the fire and damage it was causing. But to my surprise, I didn't see any forest fire happening. I looked around and sniffed the air to smell smoke and saw an orange light several yards to my right. Curiosity got the best of me and I slung my backpack over my shoulders as I went to inspect.

As I came closer, I began to wonder if it was a hiker in the woods having an adventure out here. But slowly stopped as I heard voices. But these voices clattered as they talked. When I came closer to the light, I ducked under a bush and peered through the branches. And what I saw surprised me.

A small group of the Skulkin Army. What were they doing above ground?

I looked around their camp as their fire roared and blazed high. I can see shadows being casted on their bones and reflected off their armor. Outside the camp was this monster truck-like vehicle with a few motorcycles beside it. There were only nine or ten skeletons in the camp, but why were they here? My father told me that they are from the Underworld and follow this one skeleton I can't remember his name. What am I doing? I hate my father and suddenly remember a lesson from him when I'm trying to forget about him. The skeletons closest to me began speaking and I carefully leaned in to hear them.

"How much closer are we to our target?" one asked.

"Samukai says we're closer." the other answered while polishing a sword. "But dawn is approaching soon and we'll have to wait until nightfall."

Samukai. That's the leader I couldn't remember. But my next question about them is what are they looking for? What is their target? And why do they need to reach it in nightfall. I needed to know more and carefully crept to hear them. And also make a strike to fight them off.

_Snap!_

I gazed down at my right hand to see a broken twig. I gave out a silent gasp as I looked up to see the skeletons turning towards me. I was glad I was wearing black to hide in the shadows. But needed to forget about fighting them as their weapons were drawn out and started walking towards me. I quietly crawled back and out of the bush without disturbing a branch and ran back to my hollow. I quickly ducked in my hollow and dare not lie on the bed of leaves as I didn't want to expose myself even more. I just sat and waited and hoped they don't find me.

_Snap! Crunch!_ I tensed up. Someone was coming.

Outside I could hear stomping as a skeleton was searching for me. I slowly crawled to the mouth of the hollow to see how far or close it was to me, but stopped as an iron boot stomped in front of me. I held my breath and dare not move to give myself away. I could see the bleach white shin bone in the darkness. It shifted a lot as it was looking around its surroundings for me and hoped it doesn't look down. The shifting stopped and walked away from my hollow. I sighed in relief and slumped onto my back as I got away safely.

Suddenly, I felt something grab my left ankle to give out a small scream as I was dragged out and hung upside down. I was shaking in fear as I couldn't scream more as I was facing my captor; a skeleton. But this skeleton was different as the others for it had a hunched spine, ape-like skull, and surprisingly four arms. I felt the blood rushing to my head and started feel dizzy as I was dangled by my ankle and my backpack slipped out of my arms. The four-armed skeleton caught it with his lower left hand before it reached the ground and looked at me with the red flames for its eyes. I couldn't tell if he was angry at me for I didn't see any expressions on his skull and started to squirm to escape him. The skeleton huffed and we both made our way to the camp.

When we reached the camp, I continued to squirm out of his bony grasps and was surprised on how his arm didn't fall off to my weight. I kept thrashing to escape, but grunted in pain as I felt something hit my stomach to make me stop squirming and saw a bony fist of my captor retreating. I hugged my stomach while dangling as it hurt so much. And with a tearful eye, I looked at the skeletons who I can't tell if they were glaring at me.

"Look what we got here, boys." my captor said, "Tie this brat up." and threw me to the ground.

I let out a painful groan when making contact to the ground as I was still in pain from his punch and was immediately surrounded by four skeletons. I struggled as three of them held my hands behind my back while the fourth was tying my wrists together with thick rope. I kicked my legs at them and two more skeletons came to aid the others and held my legs together and down. I continued to thrash my body as the skeleton that tied my wrists was now doing my ankles and tied them tight. Once they finished tying me up, they seated me near the center of their camp and one skeleton grabbed onto my mask. I bit down on it to conceal my identity, but with a tug, I felt the fabric yanked out of my teeth and off my face. My identity was revealed and began to struggle out of my bonds.

"Well, well, well, look what we got here." my captor addressed the other. "A worthless child."

I stopped struggling as it was no use to free myself and glared at him. "I am no worthless child." I scoffed, highly offended. "I am a ninja."

"Did you hear that, boys? A _ninja._ More like a brat walking around the woods playing dress up." and the other skeletons started laughing at me.

I growled through my teeth for mocking me when clearly I'm a ninja and struggled some more to see if there was any slack. The four-armed skeleton opened my backpack to shuffle through what I had. The skeleton stopped as he found something and pulled out my flute. I stopped struggling and my eyes grew wide as it was the only thing I had left of my mother when she gave it to me for my eighth birthday. And she would always dance to it when I play as she was once a dancer. "Leave that alone!" I shouted at him.

The skeleton huffed and threw it back in my bag and zipped it close. "What use would we have for it if we don't have lips." he said and threw my backpack at me. I groaned in pain as it hit my head and landed in my lap. The skeleton, who I couldn't tell if he was smirking at me or not, had his lower right hand behind his back. "Tell me, _ninja_, do you know what we do when we capture them?" And in my response, I shook my head and felt fear crawl up my spine. "Good answer." he chuckled and drew his hand out with a curved dagger.

I gasped at the sight of the blade and knew what exactly they were going to do. They were going to kill me for being a ninja. My hands may be bounded behind my back, but I still scooted away from the skeleton as he came closer to me, but felt something grip my shoulders and couldn't move away. Fear was still climbing up my spine and I was miles away from home, but hoped someone else was nearby in these woods. "HELP!" I screamed, "Someone, help!"

The skeleton was growling while covering what use used to be his ears with his upper arms and glared at me. "Someone gag that brat so we could do this quicker without him screaming!" he commanded.

"Help! Hel-mmpph!" I looked down to see black cloth sticking out of my mouth as the skeleton that took my mask off stuffed it in my mouth to gag me. Before I could spit it out, I felt a strip of cloth wrapped over my mouth and tied tightly behind my head. I was now helpless when being tied up and gagged. Tears of fear rolled down my cheeks as I continued to scream, but to only hear muffled sounds from my mouth. The skeleton stood in front of me with the curved blade held high with a free hand on my chest to make me lie down and to hold me still. I closed my eyes as it was the end for me.

"Samukai, stop!" a deep voice shouted.

I opened my eyes as I felt pressure off of my chest to see the four-armed skeleton in front of me was the leader of the skeleton army. Samukai, King of the Underworld. I heard him growl through his teeth and walked towards a tree. Who was the person who saved me? And why did he sound mad at Samukai? The air felt still as I slowly sat up and gazed around the quiet skeletons who had no clue what was happening. I turned my head to a skeleton that had spikes sprouting from his head with a metal eye patch over his right eye, jumping excitedly for an odd reason as he stared at me.

"Look!" he says while pointing a bony finger at me. "It's our target!"

The skeleton next to him with a similar ape-like skull like Samukai's looked angry at him and smacked him hard across the face to make the one with the eye patch's head spin. I think I'll him Eye-patch for his eye and the other Kong for his skull before I die. Eye-patch clamped his head to stop spinning and the red flame for his one good eye still spun inside his skull and stopped in his left eye socket and I think he gave him a grimace look. I wish they had facial expressions so I'd know what they are saying by looks.

"Don't expose this kid our plans, you idiot!" Kong shouted, "He could be a spy for all we care." and gave Eye-patch an upper cut punch under his chin and literally knocked his skull off.

Eye-patch's head rolled on the grass and dead leaves while his body still stood with his hands out for guidance. "Hey. Over here." his head commanded to the body and the body heard him and walked around to find the missing skull. "Follow my voice. To the left." he commanded, but the body didn't go left and went right and smacked into a tree and fell back. "No, your other left." he sighed and the other skeletons laughed at him.

I gave them a weird look as I see this one as the idiot of the army. "Really." I heard Samukai say astonished and turned my head at his tree. I saw him walking back towards me and I began to struggle free again and scream through my gag, but it was no use. He grabbed the front of my gi and lifted me off the ground. I was shaking in fear as he still had the curved dagger in his hand, but sheathed it behind his back. Why? What ever happened to killing me for being a ninja? "We have better plans for you, _ninja_." Samukai said and carried me to his vehicle. When we got to it, he reached in and pulled out a burlap sack. My eyes grew wide at the sight of the bag and struggled even more furiously to escape. But Samukai didn't look fazed and huffed and threw me in.

I kicked the bag with my bounded ankles to hopefully break the bag and escape somehow. But couldn't as the material was tough. I gave up on the bag and began to free my hands from the rope. I grunted in pain as something hit my head and saw it was my backpack and looked up at the gap of the bag. I screamed in protest to not close the bag through my gag, but they ignored me and closed the bag. I was surrounded in darkness.

It was hopeless. I was captured. Scared. Not knowing what will happen to me now. But mostly to me, I was captured by the skeletons.

What's going to happen to me?

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**Cliffhanger! Hope everyone has enjoyed today's chapter. Find out next week on what happens to Lucas. Oh in case if you were wondering, the skeletons named Eye-patch was Nuckal and Kong was Kruncha. I don't know why I thought of that as a nickname, just thought his skull almost looks like an ape's skull. But anyway, review if you like and see you all next week. Have a wonderful weekend. :) **


	6. Apprentice

**Happy Friday everyone! It's time for another update. Let's see what's going to happen to Lucas after being captured last week. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 5: Apprentice**

"Lord Garmadon! We have captured a spy!

"Bring him to me!"

I slowly opened my eyes after hearing Samukai's voice and the same one that stopped him from killing me and found myself still in darkness. I didn't realize I dozed off after I was captured by the skeletons and begin to stretch my arms. But I stopped as I remembered that they were tied behind my back and my mask was still in my mouth to gag me. I began shaking in fear as I remembered after being captured. I was enclosed in darkness of a bag and had no clue where I'm at now. What was going to happen to me now for being a ninja and spy?

I suddenly felt weightless as the sack was being lifted and groaned as I hit something hard against my chest as I was unexpectedly thrown to the ground. How much pain are they going to inflict on a ten-year-old child? I saw light break through the bag as it was finally opening up and squinted my eyes to the new light. Then I felt something grab the collar of my suit was pulled out of my imprisonment. My eyes still burned to the light and was thrown back to the ground and laid on my side and felt my backpack hit my ribs. Seriously, how much pain are they going to inflict on a ten-year-old?

My eyes finally adjusted to the new light and found myself surrounded by more skeletons than back at the camp. I used my left elbow, as I laid on it, to lift myself up and sat on the stone floor. I looked around my surroundings as it appeared I was in cave lit by purple torches. I saw that large chunks of rocks were floating the air and were connected with wooden bridges. I can see a castle of dark purple stone with a stone bridge for crossing with curved bones climbing up. I saw something above and looked up to scream through my gag as I saw my worst fear hanging and clinging on the stalactites. Giant slim spiders that looked like black widows but were a deep shade of blue with a skull on the body staring at me hungrily with their eight eyes.

I slowly realized where I was. The skeletons. The cave-like area with the floating stones. A castle or fortress inside the cave. The giant creatures of my fear hanging above me with the pinchers clamping like I'm their next meal. The tales my father told me once about the skeletons and their home. I've gone to place that any human has gone before.

I was in the Underworld.

Sweat began to drip down my face with nervousness as the skeletons slowly advance towards me with their weapons drawn out. I began to scoot away from them and looked up to see a spider climb down from the ceiling and landed in front of me. I was screaming the loudest I can through my gag and scooted as fast as my bounded hands and legs could let me as my worst fears snapped its pinchers-jaws with venom dripping from its fangs and slowly came closer and closer to me. I stopped as my gloved fingertips no longer felt stone and looked over my shoulders to stare in shock of a cliff edge and below was a river magma. I looked back at them with wide eyes as I was now trapped and soon eaten by my fear. Someone save me!

"Bring me the spy!" a deep voice commanded.

I watched Samukai swipe the spider away and the spider hissed at him and began to climb back to the ceiling. The skeletons sheathed their weapons and stepped away. Samukai grabbed my backpack from the ground and walked over towards me with the red fire in his eye sockets blazing. He grabbed the front of my shirt before I lost my balance and hefted me over his shoulders. I gave up on struggling to escape as it was no use and we both headed towards the fortress.

I lifted my head as it drooped for I didn't know what was going to happen to me. I saw the skeletons watching my fate leaving as we crossed the bridge and moat and entered the fortress with the giant wooden doors closing. Sealing me in doom. Not knowing what will happen to me. Will I be held prisoner until I die? Or will I die in the hands of the one who saved me from death? God help me.

Samukai's footsteps echoed on the stone floor from his iron boots in the empty chamber. I gazed upon in astonishment to the chamber to the stone-carved pillars supporting the ceiling. The walls were bare on the dark purplish black stone with no portraits hanging. Above us was an enormous bone chandelier blazing with the purple flames emitting on the candle wicks. I looked over my shoulder to see a hole in the floor and realized it was a spiral bone stairway and we trekked our way down.

Once we reached the last step, I looked over my shoulder to see another set of double doors and Samukai pushed them open and entered. Once we crossed a bridge made of thick bones, we were in the center of the new chamber and Samukai flipped me off his shoulder and had me on my knees. I scanned around the chamber as the walls were bare too as the first chamber I was in and stared in front of a throne designed from conjoined bones with a figure in the shadows. The figure stood up from his throne and slowly climbed down the steps to reveal himself in the light. My eyes grew wide as he wasn't a skeleton, but a black-skinned man with crimson red eyes that had fire in them. I didn't struggle or squirm as I felt frozen with fear as the figure must be the ruler of the skeleton army and will decide my fate for being a spy and a ninja. But my question before I die was: Who was he?

The figure stood in front of me and looked down with his red eyes piercing me as I shook scared. But I noticed his expression changed as his eyes kept studying me. Almost like he knew me. "Lucas, it that you!?" he asked me. I looked at him with a confused look and slowly nodded my head. How did he know my name? The figure slightly gasped in surprised and looked at Samukai. "Cut his bonds off at once, Samukai!" he demanded.

"As you wish." Samukai grumbled and drew out his dagger and knelt behind me.

I heard the rope being cut around my wrist and ankles and no longer felt them tied. I slowly stretched my arms out for being stiff and rubbed my wrists as they felt raw and chaffed from being tied tight. I felt a bony hand grasp the back of the cloth wrapped around my mouth that kept my gag in yanked off. I spat out my black mask out and watched it fall to the floor. My mouth felt dry as cotton and my tongue was like sandpaper as the moisture in my mouth was absorbed into the fabric of my mask. I weakly stood up to my feet and didn't know why I felt weak, but my legs gave out and felt weightless to fall towards the stone floor; greeting me for impact until a pair of strong arms caught my underarms. I looked up to see the figure who knew my name was the one who caught me with a worried look on his face. "H-how do you know my name?" I asked him in a quiet voice as I couldn't speak for awhile, demanding the information from him about knowing me. "Wh-who are you?"

"My nephew, do you not recognize your uncle?" he prompted while helping me to my feet.

I looked at him confused. Did he just say he was my uncle? No, he can't be. I knew what my uncle looked like when I was seven before my father said he ran away. But he was weird. He had red eyes and the person who claims to be my uncle has the same color and his voice sounds the same as my uncle's. And his skin was different because he had pale skin, not charcoal black. "There's no way you're my uncle!" I grimaced and stepped back. "I knew what my uncle looked like before he ran away and you're not him."

"Appearances change over time, Lucas." He said back and reached into his dark purplish-black kimono. "But if you want proof, have a look at this." and tossed a piece of paper at me.

I caught the paper and realized it was a picture. And on that picture was the person I knew. My uncle. With his red eyes and pale skin. Brown hair that grew to almost touch his shoulders and was wearing a purple button-up shirt with a leather jacket over it. How did he get this picture? I studied the picture more and noticed there was someone else with him.

On the left of my uncle was a woman with burnette hair braided in a ponytail with my uncle's right arm around her shoulders. I looked down and noticed her belly was swollen and knew she was having a baby. Who was she? I kept studying the photo and noticed the right side was folded underneath and slowly unfolded it. And what I saw shocked me.

On the right of my uncle was my father with his head full of blonde hair and no beard growing. And next to him was a woman with burnette hair as well, but in curls that grew past her shoulders with deep hazel eyes. And in her arms was a bundle wrapped in a blankets and I could see a bady inside the wrapped cocoon of warmth with its eyes closed and had small thin strands of brown hair on top of its head. I gasped as I realized that the woman next to my father was my mother. And the baby was...me!

My stomach started doing somersauts as I kept looking at the photograph of my uncle than back at the charcoal-skinned man. My hands started shaking violently and let the pciture fall to the stone floor as I see it now. The black-skinned figure with crimson eyes was really my uncle. Garmadon. What happened to him though? "You...You really are my uncle." I finally spoke to him scared a little. And my uncle frowned and nodded. "What happened to you?" I asked quietly.

"Evil runs in my veins and has changed me." he replied while looking as his dry, rough hands. "I tried to steal the Golden Weapons and your father banished me here. I never ran away. Your father lied to you about me to keep you safe from knowing my true intentions." I felt my blood boiling up in fury as my father lied to me about him and for not leading me to the path as the strongest and powerful ninja. "But my nephew," he continued, "What are you doing outside the Monastery?" he asked me. "Don't you know how dangerous it is outside the walls?"

I looked at him with my eyes narrowed and my fists clenched tightly. "I ran away." I replied through my teeth in anger.

"Why is that?" he asked me confused. "Why did you run away?"

"Because my father wasn't leading me to become the strongest and destined ninja." I replied, "I've been training to become a ninja since I turned ten and now hate him as I overheard him saying I wasn't the chosen one. Now my anger and hatred to him wants me to train and fight against him to show him I am the strongest ninja there will be."

My uncle looked at me with a wondering look and changed it to a wicked smirk. "I too want to destroy my brother so I can possess the weapons and control Ninjago. And I will help you with your path."

"You will?" I asked a bit puzzled.

"Yes. I will take you under my wing as you have nowhere else to go and will continue with your training as a ninja and we shall rule Ninjago together."

What was this feeling I have in my chest? I felt it running in my blood and couldn't escape it. It didn't matter, I liked it. "I like the sound of that." I smirked. Before, I thought I was a goner to Samukai, I thought it was hopeless to me. But now, my uncle has given me a new home and took me under his wing. And he will help me become the strongest ninja and I'll show my father that I am stronger than him. I have found my destiny.

"Excellent." my uncle smirked back and held his right hand out. "Come forward, Lucas. Kneal to one knee and bow your head for your acceptance."

I nodded and rested my right knee on the cold, stone floor with my left knee touching my chest and bowed my head. I averted my gaze to see my uncle's feet in front of me and felt his right hand touch the back of my head. "Tomorrow, I will continue your training and you shall follow my orders and rules to train yourself as a ninja."

"I will do everything you command me to do and will follow under you." I said back and felt his my uncle's hand removed from my head and heard his fist clench to make his knuckles pop.

"Now rise," he commanded, "my apprentice."

I stood up and heard my knee pop and felt the blood rushing down for kneeling to stop the circulation. I lifted my head up with a smirk and my hazel grey eyes narrowed as I will train with and by him to be his apprentice. "As you wish." I said, "Master."

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**The Start of the Storm has begun. Lucas has become the apprentice. What will he do now to train himself as a ninja. Find out next week. Hoped all of you enjoyed this. I got my last finals today before I end my junior year of high school and it's summer vacation for me. Have a wonderful weekend and see you next week. :)**


	7. Spinjitzu

**Happy Friday everyone. Time for another update. Let's see what happens with Lucas today. Enjoy. **

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**Chapter 6: Spinjitzu**

"Lucas!" Garmadon shouted to the top of his lungs. "I need you in the courtyard now!"

I snorted in my sleep and my eyes shot straight up to my uncle's shout. I quickly sat up on my bed for the chamber my uncle gave as his apprentice was a spare bedroom. But this room was different than my old one in the dojo. This room was much larger than the other one. My bed was a king size canopy bed than that small twin bed I had. And the only window I had didn't shine sunlight, but darkness.

"Lucas!" my uncle shouted again.

I climbed out of the bed, while stubbing around the surrounding furniture, and ran over to my window to stare in below was my uncle, pacing back and forth with the skeletons standing in a large circle around him. My body felt renewed with energy after the exhaustion I had from the forest before running into the skeletons. Sleeping on a comfortable bed is much better than a pile of dead leaves. I caught my uncle waving at me to come down and I walked away from my window to change. I changed out of my pajamas and into my black suit and left my room to start my training under my uncle. Or should I say my master?

It took me a few minutes to reach the front gate doors because my new home was larger than the dojo where my father lives. Oh how I hate that man. Every time I think about him, I want to destroy him for not leading me to my path as the strongest ninja. And training from my uncle, he will lead me to that path. And I will destroy my father and the people that stand in my path.

I like being on the dark side.

After crossing the stone bridge with –what appeared to be whale bones—on the side, I finally reached the courtyard and the surrounding skeletons created a path for me to walk through. I looked at each one as their bones clattered and still can't tell what their expressions were. I hope I get to know their expressions soon. I finally reached the open clearing to see my uncle wickedly smiling at me and I looked back to see my pathway closed.

Training has begun.

"I hope you slept well, my apprentice?" my uncle asked while tapping on the hilts of his two katanas strapped to his hips.

I looked at him and bowed. "I have, master." I replied. My uncle stopped toying with his swords and clapped twice. I saw Eye-patch and Kong walking up to me with weapons in their arms and threw them on the stone floor. Metal clanked as the weapons were at my feet and I looked at my uncle a bit shaking with confusion.

"In order to train, you must harness the power and master Spinjitzu first." he stated while giving me a quizzical look. "Tell me, Lucas, what did your pathetic father tell you to master the Arts of Spinjitzu?"

My blood began to boil on the thought of my father. "He spoke to me in riddles." I scowled, "Over the planks. Dodge the swords. Here comes the dummy."

"The very same riddle my father taught me. To master the arts, you shall fight me in sparring. You will learn Spinjitzu from weapons training. Not some obstacle course your father has put you on. You have two minutes to prepare yourself."

"Weapons training?" I thought. Sparring to learn Spinjitzu? My uncle wants me to fight him with actual weapons. I looked at them to see they were the same kind of weapons that my father trained with before. "Um…what about breakfast?" I asked stupidly.

"I'll cut you a deal, Lucas." My uncle proposed, "If you beat me, you get breakfast. If I beat you, you get none today. One minute." and walked to the edge of the circle.

I quickly got down to my knees and shuffled through the assorted weapons. I moved swords aside, nunchucks, and scythes and bo staffs until I found my favorite. The shurikens. I grabbed two for each hand and stood in an attack stance; prepared for training.

"The lesson begins now!" my uncle shouted and crossed his arms over his chest to grip his two swords and drew them out. The firelight from the torches gleamed on the metal of the blades and felt them glaring at me. My uncle gave out a shout and charged towards me.

I studied his movement and smirked as I threw my mask over my face. I've found my target. I twirled my body to release the shurikens from my right hand and let them slice through the air. I continued to twirl in the same direction and planted my right hand on the ground to kick my legs up and threw the remaining two to strike at my uncle's legs and landed on both feet in a defense stance. I watched all four pieces of metal slice through the empty air towards my uncle. Suddenly, he stopped and deflected all of them with his swords and they clanked on the floor by his feet. I gasped as they were the only weapons I favored and that's all there was.

"Poor choice of weapons, Lucas." Garmadon huffed, "A ninja would never just use the shurikens to fight. Unless the one who can possess the power of ice and his weapons would be the Shurikens of Ice. In which, they can return to their wielder alone." He looked down at the ones I threw by his feet and then back me. "Unlike these, in which they do not return to you. A ninja would choose a weapon that chooses the wielder. Find that weapon before I destroy you."

I quickly fell to my knees and searched frantically for a good weapon. I picked up a nunchuck and spun it around to hit myself in the head and tossed it aside. I picked up a sword and tossed it aside as I never favored them. I tossed the scythe as it required me to use both hands when I want to fight with both of them. I gazed at a wooden bo staff and heard the wood clutter as I tossed it aside. I thought it was hopeless now that my favorite weapons are the shurikens and they're over there and didn't return to me when I threw them.

But then something caught my hazel grey eyes.

On the bottom of the pile were two identical weapons. They looked like two oddly shaped daggers with the main shaft taller than the two identical shorter ones, which bend near the base and curved upwards and were symmetrical. What are these? I never trained with them before. I picked them up and they felt comfortable as they fitted in my gloved hands. I twirled them in my fingers and gripped the handles tightly and stood in an defense stance. Let's see how they'll do.

"Ah, the sai's." my uncle spoke in an interesting tone. So that's what these things are called. "An excellent choice of a weapon for both defending and attacking. Let's see how well you'll fight with them." and charged towards me.

I gripped the sai's tightly as he came closer until he was in front of me. He swung his swords at me and I felt adrenaline coursing in my veins, and somehow in instincts, I blocked both weapons with mine by crossing them. He drew his swords back and swung them back at me. Metal clanked after I deflected the first sword and twirled my body while reaching over my shoulder to parry another sword with the sai and stood a few feet back from my uncle after I deflected his swords. He turned around to glare at me and I gasped in amazement to what happened with the sai's. I looked at them in amazement and knew that I never trained with them before. How did I do that?

My uncle charged back at me and I found myself charging at him and both of our weapons made contact. I deflected each attack he threw at me while I sent a few back along a punch or kick to his chest or limbs. To that, he stumbled back. Seriously, how did I do that without proper training on these twin weapons? "You know what I see?" he asked me. And in my response, I shook my head. "I see you as your father. Weak. Pathetic. Slow. Sloppy."

I growled at him under my mask. I am nothing like my father! My blood was boiling and I charged at him with a cry of anger. My anger coursed through my body as I sent attacks at him. I then placed my left foot on his chest and sent my right knee up to his chin to make contact and allowed the momentum to jump back and performed a backflip and landed perfectly. He growled at me and charged. I screamed in anger at him and charged at him, again. I began to see it now. His movements, attacks, and defense. It's like the training course at my old home.

He swung his swords at my legs and I jumped over him and landed behind him. Over the planks. He quickly turned around and swung his weapons to my chest and I quickly twirled my body while arching my back to dodge them. Dodge the swords. I looked at my uncle as he charged at me. Here comes the dummy. "Ninjaaa-Gooo!" I shouted and spun around in my spot. I squeezed my eyes tight as I concentrated harder and felt energy swelling in my chest increasing with power until I felt it unleashed.

My Spinjitzu.

I opened my eyes as I spun and a smiled grew on my face as I done it. I was doing Spinjitzu. But it was different than my father's and wasn't green. It was grey. It was grey and misty with little fog swirling around me along with drops of water. I'm not the Green Ninja after all. What am I?

I can see through my Spinjitzu and saw my uncle charging at me. I directed my tornado as I spun and landed a kick to his chest and watched him fly back. He gave out a painful grunt when making contact to the stone floor and I stopped spinning. I felt a little dizzy and nauseas, but quickly recovered and ran to my uncle to pin him. I placed a foot on his chest and grabbed the front of his kimono and had my hand drawn back with the blade of the sai between my index and middle finger. Both fingers were then wrapped around the base of the blade and the sides as it made like I can make the final kill. I won.

"Excellent work, my apprentice." He congratulated me. "You performed Spinjitzu and beaten me." But then his lips curved into a smirk. "But failed to see something you did wrong."

"What?" I asked.

"Your footing." he pointed out.

I looked at him confused and down at my feet. I gasped as I did do something wrong with my footing. My left foot was on his chest, not my right. What's the difference you may ask? If I placed my right foot on his chest, all of my weight would pin him down. But with my left, he could easily knock me down. A lesson I once learned from my father.

My uncle swung his left arm at me and made contact to my leg. I felt weightless and saw the floor closing in as I fell; welcoming me. I let out a grunt and felt my lungs ached when my back made contact and felt air escape my lungs. I tried to breathe, but it gave me a small dose of pain as I tried. I lifted my head to see my uncle place his right foot on my chest and felt the weight crushing me and he yanked my mask off. He then placed a sword by my throat and could feel the cold steel against my warm skin. He now has the upper hand to deliver the final kill. I failed. No breakfast then.

My uncle began to chuckle and removed the blade away from my throat and pulled me to my feet. "You've done an excellent job today, my apprentice." he said while giving me my sai's. "Or should I say my Ninja of Water. And for mastering and harnessing the power of Spinjitzu for the first time, I'll give you the privilege to have breakfast. But next time, never show yourself weak to your enemy. Otherwise they'll take the advantage to destroy you."

Inside, I felt pride for mastering Spinjitzu. But outside, I looked at him confused. What did he call me? "The Ninja of Water?" I stuttered, "Is that what I am as a ninja?"

"Yes." My uncle replied, "Instead of the Green Ninja, you're the Grey Ninja. Master of Water. With that element, along with your golden weapon, you'll be able to manipulate water in your hands. Create storms and tsunamis. And with that, you'll cause destruction with your powers and still be the strongest ninja and defeat your father." and tossed me my mask. I caught it and tucked it in my belt. "But for now, you may return to your chamber and I'll send a skeleton to give you some food while I get your new suit made. Get some rest now. Your training is over for the day."

I bowed to him and made my way back to my room. When I entered and closed the doors behind me, I walked over to my bed and collapsed; exhausted and threw the covers over me. It felt great to be back in my comfortable bed as my training to master Spinjitzu was exhausting and didn't want to wake up. Like an endless sleep. I feel like I can sleep forever. In a matter of minutes, I instantly fell into slumber. And I was proud to master Spinjitzu.

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**Hoped you enjoyed today's chapter. Lucas mastered Spinjitzu! And not only that, he found out that he fights well with the sai's and found out that he is the Ninja of Water. Review if you want to and have a wonderful weekend and summer. See you all next week. :)**


	8. Questions

**Happy Friday everyone! Time for another update. Fair warning, this is a filler chapter today. Once again this is a filler chapter. Let's see what happens with Lucas today. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter7: Questions**

I groaned as I slowly pried my eyes open. I rubbed my eyes with my still gloved hands and yawned after passing out from training. I prompted myself up with my elbows and scanned around the area to think everything was a dream and I was back in the dojo. I smiled though as it wasn't and I was home; the Underworld. I stretched my arms out and felt my elbows pop and heard something clank near me. I looked down to see the weapons I trained with on my lap to see the sai's and picked one up and wondered if I slept with them. I liked how I fought against my uncle with them and how they felt great in my grip to fight with. I think I might like them. Better than the shurikens.

I placed the sai back with the other one and scanned around my room. My room was much larger than the one from the dojo. Plush cushioned leather couches with a stoneware coffee table. A full length mirror with glided Victorian trimming. A fireplace with the hearth roaring as it was freshly stoked. An oak desk and bookcase filled with leather bound books. And in the center, which caught my attention, was a tray with the silver dome over a dish. And beside it was a package wrapped in parchment paper.

Curiosity got me and I placed my sai's and mask on the pillow next to me and swung my legs off of my bed and walked over to the package. I eyed the tray as it sat on the table and lifted the dome to see my breakfast or lunch as it noddles in soup with an apple as a side dish. I turned my gaze to the package and untied the knot from the twine string and unwrapped the paper. My eyes grew wide to see it was my new suit in grey and looked at my gi. I changed out of my black suit and tried on my new grey suit and studied myself in front of my mirror while munching on the apple.

I can see myself as the now grey ninja dressed in my favorite color. But it was a bit big on me. The sleeves went past my wrists and up to my hands. My pants felt loose a little at my waist and dipped past my ankles. My mask was a bit big on me too as it covered my eyes from time to time and had to move the slit to see. I figured that the suit was made to be big for me as I'll grow into it later to wear besides the black one. Well at least til I need to adjust to a new size, but that'll be years. And I think I'll like being the grey ninja and not the Green Ninja. As my uncle said I can destroy anything in my path as the Ninja of Water.

_Knock-knock-knock._ I jumped a little scared and turned my head to the right of the doors. I waited for my heart beat to calm down as I'm expecting my uncle. "Come in." I answered and removed my mask.

The left door opened and Eye-patch poked his head in. I was expecting my uncle, but what did this idiot want? "Lord Garmadon requests you to see him in the throne room." he informed me.

"Alright I'll be down." I nodded and Eye-patch drew back while shutting the door behind him. What did my uncle want? Did he want me for more training? No, I remembered he said I was relieved for the day after performing Spinjitzu. But then again, how long was I asleep for? I threw my apple core in the fireplace and changed out of my grey suit and back into my black suit and left my room.

The walk to the throne room was quiet. Once I was out of the hall, I looked over the railing as could see the grand hall below me. The bone chandelier with the purple candles illuminating the room casted slight shadows and saw several skeletons walking around. What were some doing? And where were the others? I shook my head as it didn't matter and walked down the grand staircase and down the second staircase to the throne room. I stood in front of the old oak doors, nervous, and didn't know why. I quickly came over the fear and pushed the doors open and entered. I'm his nephew and apprentice, so I don't think knocking is necessary if he sent for me.

After I closed the doors behind me, the sound of the doors slammed echoed in the quiet room and I looked around curious. It was empty. I carefully crossed the bone bridge by placing each foot on a thick bone and looked down to the open space of the bones and gulped to imagine if I slipped and fell into the lava below. I sighed in relief as I didn't miss my footing and stood in the center as I was the only person in the throne room. Where was my uncle? Why did he sent for me?

I turned my head and spotted my uncle to the right with his head bowed over a stone basin. A blue light was casted on his face and shadow stood behind him. A sigh escape his throat as he gazed closer and closer to it. Something must be bothering him. "Uncle?" I asked.

Garmadon lifted his head from the basin and the blue light shadowed his frown, which later turned to a small smile. "Ah, Lucas, good to see you awake finally." he replied and walked around the basin and stood a few feet in front of me.

Finally? How long was I asleep? "Uh, how long was asleep?" I asked, utterly confused.

"Only a day." he replied. Wow, a day? "But it's natural for first-time Spinjitzu masters at a young age. Why I was about your age when I first performed it and slept for two days" and walked around me; studying me.

My eyes blinked in surprise on his answer. I slept for a day!? Wow, Spinjitzu must really take a lot out of you on the first try. Especailly when you're ten. I felt nervous as his arms were behind his back and kept walking around me. I felt his red crimson eyes piercing me as he looked at me. Like I can feel heated daggers stabbing me with each blink. "You sent for me?" I asked.

My uncle stopped studying me and stood in front of me. "Yes." he replied. "I wanted to know how you're adjusting to your new home in the Underworld."

I smirked in reply. "I'm adjusting real fine actually. It's better than the dojo." Except for the skeletons, Samukai, and the spiders, I'll adjust later.

Garmadon gave me a smirk back. "Glad to know." he said and stepped a few feet back with me alone in the center. "Show it to me, my apprentice." he commanded.

I looked at him confused. Show him what? Suddenly I realized what he meant and wanted me to perform Spinjitzu. I imagined myself surrounded in my miniture misty grey fog tornado and felt the same energy from before swell in my chest. "Ninja-Go!" I shouted and began to spin around. I concentrated on unlocking my Spinjitzu and spun harder to unleash it. But I began to feel dizzy and fell to the floor. The stone ceiling was spinning as I laid on the ground and felt nauseated to stand up and looked at my uncle as he hovered above with a somewhat concern look.

I felt his dry rough hands gently grip my hands and pulled me to my feet. Once I felt my feet planted on the ground, my knees started bucking and collapsed to the stone floor. Taking a few deep breaths, I slowly gained my balance back and got onto one knee. I heard my uncle sigh in slight annoyance and looked down at me. "I guess we'll have to work on that then, do we?" he asked me.

I nodded in reply and stood back up. I looked at him and had a question that's been bugging me since I came to the Underworld. "Master, how did you stop Samukai from killing me after I was captured?" I asked, while remembering his voice in the forest. "I didn't see you when Samukai left"

My uncle turned his gaze away from me to stare at the basin and walked over to it. He placed his hands over the basin and looked over it as if he pulling himself away from a vortex. The blue light shown itself again and he looked up and waved me over. "Come over here, nephew." he commanded, while placing his hand back down on the basin. "There's something you need to see."

I raised an eyebrow of confusion at him and walked over to the basin. When I got closer to it, I felt unsure about it as I didn't know what it was and kept closing in. The basin grew larger as I was short and stepped on the side to climb up to see over it with my arms supporting me. I looked down at the blue light as it was only water. But it was different though. It was an ice blue color and had small shards of crystals in it. Or was it the water itself? "What is this?" I asked.

"I call it the Reflective Pool." he replied, while stirring a charcoal finger in the water to make the crystals spin a whirlpool. "It allows me to see the outside world for I am banished here and can't leave. But to see through it, I have to be in shadows, otherwise it won't work." and stopped stirring the water. He sighed. "I was searching for...someone in the woods from the camp from where you were captured. I heard the shout and transversed myself to the camp and saw it was you. But after years of being here I forgotten what you looked like. So before Samukai could kill you, I intervened so I can see you personally and to see if it was you. And it was."

So it was him that saved me. But who was he spying on to hear my shout? "Who were you searching for?" I asked.

Garmadon sighed. "Three people I love and care for and wish to see them again." he replied while looking at his reflection to see him charcoal black face and hands. "But I don't think they'll want to see me for what I am and what I've done in the past to leave them."

I looked at him with a frown and averted my gaze to the pool to see my reflection. I wondered who they were? I know what love used to feel like. My mother. I don't want to talk about it as I didn't want to be haunted on the night it happened. I have nightmares when I talk or think about it. And many people understand when they asked me. I need to change the subject now. "Master, how am I going to train myself to learn my water powers if I'm in the Underworld?" I asked. So many questions I do have.

My uncle looked at me with a small smile. "There is an entrance that only you and the skeletons can use to leave the Underworld." he replied. "It'll lead you to a mountain base on the surface and below is a creek where you'll train your powers." He stood in front of me and softly placed both hands on my shoulders. "So tomorrow, you'll surface the earth and will train with your powers from my supervison from the Reflective Pool."

I nodded as I know tomorrow's agenda. We turned our heads to the doors and saw Samukai walking in. "Lord Garmadon, you're requested in the armory." he said.

Sighing, my uncle turned to me with an annoyed face. "I must go now, Lucas." he said. "Feel free to use the pool and return to your chamber." and walked to the doors to follow Samukai. Before he left, my uncle poked his head to give me one final talk. "Remember, tomorrow morning, you will surface the earth and will train. Be up at the sound of the gong." and left.

I was alone now. Silent. Dark as it was only lit by a few torches. And slightly cold as it was stone. I turned to the Reflective Pool and gazed down at the crystalized water. I kept staring at it and expected something to happen, but nothing did. How do I work this thing? I kept looking at it and gazed more closely to it as a thought came to me. "My father." I commanded.

My hypothesis was correct and the water began to glow brightly and stirred. The water showed my father in Jamanakai Village posting Missing Posters everywhere with a picture of me on it. My uncle says that when I use the pool, my shadow will appear in other shadows. I hope he doesn't see mine. I can see the grim look on his face as he did get my fake note and has everyone searching. Good luck. It didn't matter as he'll never find me in my new home and splashed the water to make it like I punched him and left.

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**I already said it before and yes it was a filler chapter. But next week will be different. Review if you want to and I promise next week will be different. See you all next week and have a wonderful weekend. :)**


	9. The Ninja of Water

**Happy Friday everyone. Time for another update. Along with a soundtrack. Never thought that I would need one for this update, but found a way. The link is watch?v=pFH2U0mKWu4 and when you see the mark, *, enjoy.**

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**Chapter 8: The Ninja of Water**

_Ggggooonnnggg!_ I snorted in my sleep and slowly and manageably pried my eyes open. I yanwed and stretched as I prompt myself up in my bed. I looked around my room with a cloudy vision as I slowly woke up and felt sleep creeping up on me. _Ggggooonnnggg!_ My eyes shot up awake as I remembered that I have to train with my new powers as the Ninja of Water and swung my legs out of my bed and ran to change.

I looked at my black suit, then turned my gaze to my new grey suit and back at my black suit. Which one should I go with? I quickly made up my mind and changed out of my pajamas. I threw on my grey pants, grey undershirt, and my grey gi. I tied the my belt around my waist and abdomen and threw my black gloves over my hands as the ones I was usin came from my black suit as they fit the most than the others and tucked my mask into my belt. I looked at the sai's on my bed and picked them up to study them.

I like the way they felt in my hands when I gripped the handles. I liked how I was able to defend myself with them with no experience in training with them. Why didn't my father teach me to fight with them before? I think I might get a hang for them. _Ggggooonnnggg!_ I placed the sai's in my belt and left my room.

I jogged down to the grand hall and looked over the railing of the second floor and saw my uncle standing below me; waiting for me. I walked down the grand staircase and towards the center. And as I was in front of him, I bowed as I was ready to train with my element. Inside, I was excited and nervous. Outside, I was confident.

My uncle turned around as I was standing up straight. "Ah, good morning, my apprentice." he greeted me.

"Good morning, master." I greeted back.

"Are you ready to train?" he asked. "To understand and harness your powers?"

"I am." I replied with a nod.

He placed a hand on my left shoulder and pointed at the doors with his other. "Through those doors and past the courtyard lies the gateway to the surface." he said. "Once you past through the stone doors, you will travel through the tunnel to the surface. Outside will be a meadow, you must follow down the path to reach a ravine under the willows. I'll say it again, I cannot leave the Underworld to train you, but I'll use the Reflective Pool to supervise you." I nodded as I understood and threw my mask over my face and moved the eye slit to see better. "Now go!" he commanded.

I nodded and bowed to him and left. I ran across the stone bridge, through the courtyard to cross a wooden bridge to reach the stone doors ahead as I could see them. When I came up to them, the stone doors towered over me and were expertly carved with hieroglyphics of their world and weren't ridden with age. I began to hear something hollow hit the stone floor and kept turning my head to the source and spotted a skeleton walking towards me with a staff. The skeleton was unlike the others I've seen. I can see that he looked old as most of his bones were missing and some had cracks on them and was missing his right hand. He didn't have any armor on or weapons. Just a carved staff and a tattered red tunic and robes. But he also didn't have any red flames for eyes. Was he blind? Is it even possible? "What brings you to the gates to the surface?" he asked in a creaky voice.

I looked at him and stood confidently. "My master wishes for me to travel to the surface and train." I replied.

"Ah, so you're the surface dweller I had to wait for." he huffed and inserted his right arm into the slot in the center of the doors and twisted it. Suddenly, the doors began to glow a golden yellow. The sound of stone grinding made me cover my ears tightly, like dragging glass against a chalkboard, as the doors were slowly opening. The doors stopped opening and I removed my hands from my ears and looked into the dark void of the tunnel. And suddenly, torch lights bursted into flames; illuminating the tunnel. I took a step forward, but felt something hit against my chest and looked at the skeleton with his staff or cane on my chest. "Be warned, kid." he spoke harshly. "Never disobey Samukai or suffer the consequences." and removed his staff from my chest and disappeared in a hollow of the rocks.

I looked at him confused. What did he mean by that? Never betray Samukai or suffer the consequences. What consequences? I shook it from my head as I'll ask about it later and walked into the tunnel. As I walked to the surface, I kept thinking of the skeleton's warning. Never disobey Samukai or suffer the consequences. Again, what consequences? Was that skeleton a traitor to make him a gatekeeper? He was different as he wore that tunic and robes over his bones with no weapon. While the others had armor and weapons. Again I shook it from my head as I'll worry about it later until I saw something ahead.

Could it be? It had to be. I thought I would never see it again. It had to be real. I ran as fast as my legs could until I reached the blinding light. My retinas burned to the forgotten light as I've been in the Underworld for two days. I know it doesn't seem that long, but I missed the sun and light. The warmth. The light. I even smiled to the breeze blowing on my face as I removed my mask. Fresh air. The mountian air. Oh how I missed it so much. My heart kept skipping beats as I felt the sun and air on my face and hair. I missed it so much.

My eyes finally adjusted to the new light. I saw I was on the side of a mountain and below me was a path to the base and below it was the meadow my uncle told me. A meadow teeming with wildflowers and foilage plants and near it was a path to the forest. I began to trek down the mountain, through the meadow, and into the forest. I continued walking on the path with my footfalls echoing in the silence with miminal bird chirps in the distance until I finally spotted the willow trees. I pushed the long, slim leafy branches aside to enter and the branches fell back like a curtain behind me and I saw a river in front of me. The ravine my uncle told me to search for and to train with. But where was my uncle?

"Ah, you finally made it, my apprentice." my uncle's voice rang. I looked around to find his shadow form and couldn't spot him. I looked up to see minimal sunlight breaking through the willow trees and kept looking around. "Behind you." he spoke up again. I turned around to see a tree trunk of a willow branch and spotted my uncle's crimson eyes in the shade. I couldn't see him entirely. Just his red eyes and his shadow. So this is how the Reflective Pool is like when he uses it. "Are you ready to train?" he asked me.

"Yes master," I replied. "I'm ready." I removed my gloves and socks and placed them near the base of another tree. I then removed my grey gi and undershirt and left my pants on. I rolled the pant legs up to my knees and stared at the water. I slowly placed my left foot in the water and found it icy cold and shivered to the cold. I forgot it was March and it still felt like winter and not spring.

"Get in the water." my uncle commanded, starting to grow impatient. "Your body will warm up."

I took a deep breath and placed my other foot in the icy water. Step by step, I slowly walked deeper in the water until it reached my waist. My teeth clattered like the way the skeletons talked as I took two more steps and had the water reach up halfway to my stomach area. I felt my blood boiling up to the new enviroment and my body growing numb to the cold. Even in my reflection, I could see my lips turn from soft pink to pale blue and my skin was once a light tan to pale. I looked at my uncle as I was ready.

"I may not know anything about mastering water." Garmadon confessed. Then what am I suppose to do? "But I think to harness your power is to be one with the water. Notice how it's calm as it flows down the bank. Try calming down and see if you can lift the water."

I nodded and turned back to the water. I closed my eyes and thought about being calm. I thought of the water moving down the bank without being disturbed. I then heard a leaf break free from a branch and opened my eyes to see it breeze along the current and landed on the water. I looked at my right hand and held it out. I felt a cool sensation run across my arm and thought of a wave running across my arm and retreating back into the ocean. The water began shaking and I stared in awe to see the water move the slightest by my hand and held it out to the leaf again. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my elemental power and felt the energy channeling through my arm and opened my eyes to stare in amazement. The leaf was now surrounded in a orb of water and was floating an inch off the surface of the water.

I was amazed. I am the Ninja of Water. But disappointed to not be the Green Ninja. Master of all elements. This is my destiny. My element.

Water.

The leaf in the water began shaking and merged back into the river and drifted away. I held my hand out to recreate the orb, but nothing happened. I tried again and still nothing. Why can't I do what I just did? I looked at my uncle to recieve an answer.

"Impressive." my uncle's shadow acknowledge. "You're a fast learner. I'm sure my brother's ninjas, when he needs them, will take months or years to master their element. Especially his green ninja. But you, however, are a fast learner to understand and gain little control of your element without your golden weapon. I'm impressed even more. A ninja need their weapons to control their element and yet you can control without it. How is this even possible? I'll leave you now for an hour and you must then return to the Underworld. That's an order." and his shadow disappeared from the shade by returning into the ground.

A whole hour. What can I do? I felt my hair as it felt greasy and decided to freshen up. It's been awhile since I last bathed and thought it was necessary to stay clean. After I washed my hair and scrubbed the dirt and sweat off of my body from training yesterday, I decided then to swim down the river and dove under the water. The water looked clear and the koi-fish looked beautiful to me as I gazed at the life below me. I started to feel light-headed and slowly exhaled my breath. But I started to panic as the bubbles of my breath wouldn't climb up to the surface and grew larger around me. I was now surrounded in a bubble and was breathing. This was amazing. I was in a bubble of air under the water to breathe. What else can I do with my elemental powers? I swam back to the surface and my bubble of air was gone and swam back to the willows.

I climbed out of the water to dry off and sat on the grass and felt the rays of the sun breaking through the drooping leaves. A breeze swayed the branches and I laid my back against the trunk and felt the rough bark scratching my bare back and closed my eyes. A well deserved nap I need after the excitement of my powers.

...

_Snap!_

I opened my eyes as I heard something break and quickly threw my shirt and gi back on and stuffed my socks and gloves into my pockets and climbed up the tree. I climbed up high as I could and looked through the branches to see...my father? What was he doing in the woods? I looked around my surroundings from my height and noticed it as the old river he used to take me and my mother to when I was young and he'd play his flute while my mother and I played in the shallow water up the stream. I watched him sit by the river and pulled out his flute.

"For my son." he said in quiet, heartbroken tone and brought the mouthpiece to his lips and blew.

*****I listened to the music as it was my favorite. It's called In Dreams. One that I can always play as I see it as my favorite. My mother would dance to it when I play it on my flute and it brought back memories. The music slowly stopped playing ad my father sighed and stood up and headed back to the dojo. I watched him disappear as I stayed hiding and climbed down. I'm glad that he's given up on me as I'm gone to him. But I can feel that he'll miss me, and my mother, very much as he's all alone. But I won't miss him one bit as he never lead me to become the strongest ninja. But my uncle will lead me to that path as I train under his wing. I felt that an hour has passed and started to head back to the entrance to the Underworld.

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**How was it? Did you enjoy that Lucas can control his powers well without a Gold Weapon? Review if you want to and have a wonderful weekend and summer and see you all next week. :)**


	10. A Skeleton's Past

**Happy Friday everyone. It's time for an update. If any of you were confused on Lucas can control his elemental powers, all will be explained in my later chapters. As of right now, this is a filler chapter. Enjoy. :)**

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**Chapter 9: A Skeleton's Past**

I tossed and turned as I couldn't sleep. I went through weapons training, elemental training, sparring, my favorite of target practice with knives and the shurikens. I even found out that my sai's can do the same. I basically went through a vigorous workout of training to be the Ninja of Water all day to exhaust myself. And yet, something was on my mind. But what?

_"Be warned, kid. Never disobey Samukai or suffer the consequences."_ the gatekeeper's voice rang in my head.

That's it! That's what's been bothering me. I don't understand his warning. What did he mean by that? Did he betray Samukai or disobeyed him to be the gatekeeper and not a soldier? I'm surely not gonna get answers in my head if I keep thinking about it. I might as well ask himself. Can't be that hard can it?

I threw the covers off of me and swung my legs out of my bed. I felt a chill run up my spine as I felt the cold stone floor through my socks and didn't turn back. I grabbed the silk robe on my chair and quietly left my room. My footsteps didn't echo in the halls as my ankle socks muffled my footfalls to attract unwanted attention and reached the main doors and walked out into the courtyard. I quietly ran through the courtyard and felt my socks ruined to the stone floor and didn't bother much as I still have more from when I packed to run away. I crossed the wooden bridge and reached the stone doors to the surface. Silence in the air. Where was he?

"You shouldn't be out this late, little one." the gatekeeper's voice spoke out. I turned around to see him walking up with his staff echoing on the floor. "The spiders here guard the fortress and will get a chance to capture you and consume you whole for the first chance of meat."

I gulped as my fear for spiders grew. Why am I afraid if you ask? Let's just say that I was once in the woods and hid in a hollow to scare my parents and felt something on my back. When I turned around, it was filled with spiders. And since then, I had a fear for them. It was scary. All sorts of spiders and their webs were on me and I kept thinking that I was their next meal as I squirmed out of the hollow with the fear tailing behind me. And every time I see a spider, I freeze in fear and ask my parents to kill it. But they would always tell me to not fear get the best of me and they would release it outside. But still, no matter how many time I face my fears, I just turn and run because it reminds me of the hollow. "I will not let them." I huffed, but yet felt them eyeing me as their meal. "I'm being careful."

The skeleton stood by the gates and moved his robes away to reveal the dusty bones. "Tell me, what brings you to my gates in this hour?" he asked me.

"I couldn't sleep." I replied while sitting on a rock. "Because I wanted to ask you something."

His flameless eyes burned through me and turned away. "I don't have time to answer your silly childish questions." he growled and walked away. "Leave or else Samukai punishes you for sneaking out."

"That's the thing though." I quickly said and got to my feet. "I want to know what you meant to never disobey Samukai and why you're unlike the others."

The gatekeeper stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face me. This time I could see his emotions, even though he's a skeleton, I could see a grim look on his skull. "You really want to know about it?" he asked. And in my response, I nodded my head. He walked over to a flat stone across from mine and groaned as he slowly sat himself down and set his staff down. "What is it that you really want to know?" he asked.

"Everything." I replied. "Why to never betray Samukai and why you're the gatekeeper. Is it a punishment or your life?"

The old skeleton sighed. "It's both." he replied and rested his arms on his legs with his skull lifted to see me. Can he see me or not? "You see, I was once a man that lived and breathed to the outside world. But now sentenced for life as this keeper."

"What happened?" I asked while crossing my legs to hug them to listen to his story.

"Two hundred years ago," he began. "I used to live in a village by the sea. The air smelled beautiful. The sky and sun shined brightly. And the fish kept biting our traps." I imagined it all, it was beautiful. The skeleton shifted himself. "I had a wife named Mylee." he continued. "She was beautiful in every way. Her hair black as a raven and soft as silk. The eyes were a beautiful shade of green with those perfect pink lips." I starting to get the picture now of her. "A rich man could have her. But instead, she chose me. We were happy together." His emotions changed and turned his head down. "But one day, everything changed."

"What happened?" I asked.

Sighing, the skeleton lifted his head back up. "Mylee fell ill and no healer couldn't revive her." he continued sadly. "I was broken because I didn't want to lose her and couldn't live without her. So I asked Samukai to revive her and I would give him anything in return."

"What was that?" I kept asking.

"My first-born son." he replied.

I was stunned. Why would Samukai want with a child when he clearly hates them? Including me when I'm near him. "So what happened then?" I asked again, extracting every detail to know more.

"My aching heart and...greed to have my Mylee back and the son growing in her consumed me and I accepted." he continued. "Samukai gave me an elixir to heal her and told me that when my son was born, I had to kill him to give him to Samukai." I was more stunned. Samukai wanted him to kill him in a sacrifice. "But I couldn't do it. When my son was born, I took him and my wife and we ran from Samukai. Years went by and I watched him grow. I was happy. But when he turned four, Samukai found me and took me from my family. I found myself here and was cursed."

"With what?" I asked him. I've got to stop asking questions now.

"Immortality." he sighed.

I looked at him confused. That should be a good thing, shouldn't it? A life of not dying. That sounds neat. "But that's more like a gift instead of a curse." I stated. "You live forever." The skeleton gave me a hard stare and took his staff and whacked me on the head. "Ow!" I held my head and rubbed it to ease the throbbing pain and watched him place it back down. Why did he do that? Was it something I said?

"You don't get it do you, kid?" he spat at me. And I shook me head. Maybe it was something I said. "With my curse, I watched the ones I love die in front of me. They grew old while I stayed the same. I watched my wife die. My son. Even my grandchildren." The last part was silent filled with sorrow.

I was stunned more. He's been through a lot. Even watching the ones he loved die before him because of his curse. But I realized now. "So that's why you never betray Samukai." I said. "He makes you suffer by doing the opposite. You wanted to be with everyone and he made you live forever. Not them."

"That's correct." he sighed. "Since everyone I knew passed away, Samukai came for me and took my eyes and made me the gatekeeper here. My right hand is the key and this is my punishment."

Again I was stunned. A bit more surprised. This skeleton was once a man and had a history with Samukai. But when he disobeyed Samukai, he got the punishment to live forever and watched everyone he loved die away. And after he suffered, Samukai appointed him the gatekeeper and slowly withered away to be a skeleton. That must be hard for one person. You may live forever, but can't be with the ones you love. "I'm really sorry to hear about that." I apologized. "It must've been hard for you."

The skeleton sighed with a cloud of dust escaping on his breath. "Don't be, kid." he said. "This is my life until the ends of time."

I looked away to let it all sink in. I looked into his empty eye sockets and drawn a new question. "Can you see?" I asked stupidly. Why did I ask that? I'm such an idiot. "Like how are you able to tell where I am and know what's around?"

The skeletons expression perked up. "Years of practice." he answered. "I can see clearly when soundwaves bounce off these stone walls and can get a picture in my head."

Like a bat. "Echolocation." I summed it.

"Precisely. Now tell me, why are you here and not on the surface?" he asked.

I turned my gaze down and felt anger swell up in my chest. Like a roaring fire. Or a raging wave. "I ran away." I mumbled.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"My father wasn't leading me to become the strongest ninja in Ninjago." I grumbled the answer and stretched my legs out. "So I ran away and found myself here. To train under my uncle."

The keeper scratched his bony chin in acknowledgement and hummed in deep thought. "It appears that your greed and lust for power turned you to this and made you this growing storm to be with Garmadon." he said. I nodded as it meant everything about me being the storm and following my uncle. The keeper watched me for awhile and picked his staff back up. "It is time for you to return to your chamber, little one." he said and groaned as he stood back up for his bones were old with age. "Samukai or the spider will catch you for sneaking out and will suffer the consequences." and started to walk away.

I nodded as sleep was finally crawling up on me and watched him leave. "Wait." I said to stop him. "Before you go...what's your name?"

The blind skeleton stopped and turned to me. "No-one has asked me that in years." he said happily. "It's Kuzca."

I liked it. I don't know why, but I thought it was neat. "I like it." I said. "My name is Lucas."

Kuzca clenched his jaws tight as if he was smiling and I knew I made him happy. "That was my son's name when he was alive." he said and walked away.

I stood there alone as Kuzca left me. I thought of his past was interesting. Why you never betray Samukai and suffer his consequences. I think that we may something in common as we both taken away by Samukai and we shared our stories. I may even found a friend here in the Underworld. A person to talk to when I want to know anything. And someone to talk about my day.

Since he told me it was time to head back, I knew he was right. I started to head back as quiet as I can and quickly hid behind a stalagmite. I peered up to see the spiders crawling on the stone ceiling and waited for them to look away. I found my chance and ran quickly as I could in the courtyard until I felt something hit my ankles and tripped to the floor. A small groan escaped my lips and I looked over my shoulders to see a white-clearish thread wrapped around my ankles and followed it up to the spiders. I screamed as I was being dragged away and carried up.

I struggled to break the sticky thread around my ankles, but couldn't as it was strong and wished I had my sai's with me and felt my back hit something. I looked over my shoulders to see I was lying on a web and quickly turned my head to see my worst fear looming over me. I continued to scream the top of my lungs as the spider's front legs lifted me up and started spinning me and I could feel the threads binding my arms to my sides and my legs tightly and gently placed me back down on the web. I could tell this one was the queen because it was larger than the others and hissed as them to make them back away and slowly crawled to me. I was shaking in fear with hot salty tears running down my cheeks as my worst nightmares were coming true. The queen was snapping her pincher-jaws with clear venom dripping as she drew closer; ready to eat me and I closed my eyes and looked away.

This is how I die.

"Leave him alone!" a voice shouted.

I opened my eyes to see a staff hitting the queen and she hissed in anger. I heard the sound of metal being thrown and saw two shurikens slicing the air and cutting the web apart and found myself rolling off and falling towards the ground. I continued screaming as I was close to the ground and closed my eyes until I felt something grab me. I opened my eyes to expect a spider capturing me, but instead saw Kuzca holding me with his one arm; saving me and setting me back on the ground. Kuzca caught on of the shurikens while the other clanked to the ground along with his staff. "Are you alright?" he asked me.

I quickly nodded as I was now and the spiders began moving away. Kuzca took the shuriken and sliced the web off of my arms and legs and helped me to my feet. "Thank you, Kuzca." I said while still shaking in fear clinging onto me. Like a newborn baby clinging onto its mother. But for me, it was my fear of spiders. And it reminded me of the hollow.

"What's going on out here?" a voice shouted. I looked up and saw my uncle in his black robes and his helmet removed so I could see the black hair standing up. I was starting to shake again as he looked mad at me with his red eyes for sneaking out. That and Samukai was next to him. "Lucas, what are you doing out of your chamber and sneaking out?" he asked me angrily.

"I...uh...uh..." I stuttered to speak. I couldn't think of a lie to make my uncle believe that I wanted to know about Kuzca's warning and lead myself captured by the spiders. I'm in huge trouble now.

"I caught him wondering around because he couldn't sleep he said." Kuzca interjected. "But I warned him about Sherra and told him to head back. But he ignored me and got caught in her trap. I was glad to save him before she could consume. Right, boy?"

I looked at him on our story and quickly nodded my head. My uncle looked at me with a stern look and brought me closer and patted my back with his dry rough hands. Then he turned to Kuzca. "Thank you for saving my apprentice, Kuzca." he said. "Now return to the gates."

Kuzca bowed and I could tell he was annoyed with my uncle and picked his staff up. "Yes Lord Garmadon." he said and started to head back.

My uncle then turned to me. "And you, Lucas, return to your chamber." he commanded to me.

"Yes master." I said and bowed and watched him and Samukai leave and I followed behind them. I looked over my shoulders to glace at Kuzca and saw him staring at me. I hope he saw this, but I mouthed him a thank you for saving me and covering for me. He nodded back as a welcome and disappeared. I smiled now that I may have actually found a friend. Kuzca.

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**Hoped you enjoyed the update. See you all next week. Have a wonderful weekend. :)**


	11. The Riddle

**Happy Friday everyone. It's time for another update. Let's see what's in stores for Lucas for this chapter. Enjoy. :)**

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**Chapter 10: The Riddle**

**Three Years Later**

_It has been three years since I ran away from my father. My time with my uncle in the Underworld has given me what I always wanted as a ninja. Strength and training. With that training, I have become a true ninja. One that will destroy my father and students when he trains them._

_My body has been changing since I found my new home for these past years. I look and sound different. I've been growing each and everyday. My uncle calls it puberty and it's natural for everyone. My voice has become deep than my old one. My short hair has grown to a thick shaggy style and I have to use a dagger to cut it so it wouldn't bother me. My body has grown with lean muscles on my shoulders and arms from training under my uncle. I even have a flat stomach and strong legs from running. I even have a thing what I like to call is hidden strength. Where I am able to lift or fight down something that is larger to fight. My uncle may be stronger than me, but I am able to flip him over my shoulders in sparring. Thanks to his training, my body has become well-trained and toned as a...well a ninja._

_My life in the Underworld has grown used to. The skeletons ignore me as a surface dweller, but my uncle tells them to respect as I'm his apprentice. But I ignore it for I don't care for the courtesy. And the spiders, I still watch out and avoid them and they leave me alone. But the one queen named Sherra keeps eyeing me to be her prey. But she always ignores me when I have Kuzca escorting me back. And Kuzca, my friend in the Underworld, tells me interesting stories after training and I told him that I see him as a friend and he accepts it because he has no-one to talk to since his wife, Mylee, and son are gone. That and the skeletons see him as traitor from his past. I'm like the second son to him and I accept it._

_My training here has been improving. And I even accept the fact as the grey ninja; Ninja of Water. My powers to control water in my hands is exhilirating. I can use it to create amazing things for offense and denfense. I still don't know how I'm able to control my elemental powers without my golden weapon. It confuses me and my uncle. My uncle has even hired me a private tutor, that was willingly to accept the offer, from a boarding school called Darkleys Boarding School for Bad Boys. I'm still fine with my academics of mathematics and english, but tend to struggle with history. But for training, the shurikens are no longer my favorite weapons of choice. I have chosen the sai's. Both good for offense and defense as my uncle once said. Even with my accurirate throws have made them deadly to my targets. And my Spinjitzu has become stronger since I mastered it at age ten._

_Today is my birthday. August twenty-sixth. I have now turned thriteen and only recieved this journal from my uncle as a gift. But this is all I get. No other presents or a cake that my mother would make for me on them. But since I ran away, and my mother is gone, this is all I got. But I don't even care..._

_Knock-knock-knock._

I stabbed the tip of my ink pen in the ivory colored papers of my black leather bound journal as someone interrupted my train of thought. The black ink slowly bled in a pool on the page I was writing on. I took a deep breath to not become angry and placed the pen on my desk and closed my journal. Who could want me? Obviously my uncle no doubt, but training isn't until another hour. So who's knocking on my doors? "What?" I sighed and turned my head to my doors.

The door opened and Eye-patch poked his head in. As I lived here for three years, I found out that Eye-patch's real name is Nuckal and Kong's was Kruncha. I still call them by their nicknames behind their backs, but speak their proper names when in front of them as they are the generals to the Skulkin Army under Samukai. But what did this idiot want? "Lord Garmadon requests you in the throne room immediately." he informed me and left.

I sighed and stood up from my chair to stretch my arms and stifle a yawn. I surrounded myself in my Spinjitzu to change out of my black sweatpants and grey tee shirt to my grey ninja uniform, that I finally grew into, and stopped spinning. I slipped my right arm through the rope tassle with it around my abdomen with my emblem of the water ninja on my chest; a dragon's head in a water drop. I tied my grey belt snuggly around my waist and slipped my sai's into my belt along with my mask and left my room.

I ran down the halls of my uncle's fortress and looked over the railing to see Kruncha rounding up skeletons and giving orders with supplies in crates leaving the fortress. Something is gonna happen. But what? I ignored it and continued making my way to the throne room. Once I ran down the stairs to the lower levels and reached the doors, I knocked the doors and waited for my response. "Enter." my uncle's voice shouted.

I pushed the doors open and entered. I crossed the small bone bridge and waited in the center. I looked around for my uncle and spotted him staring deep into the Reflective Pool. Probably the same three people he told me once. He lifted his head and looked a bit upset on something, but I decided to not ask him why. Probably personal from one or three of the people to him. I bowed to him and waited. "You sent for me?" I asked.

Garmadon walked away from the stone basin with a small grin. "Yes I have." he replied and stood in front of me. I was expecting him to surprise me with an attack like he did twice when I was twelve, but he didn't attack one bit. So what does he need me for now? "I want you to get prepared." he said. "You'll be leaving with skeletons soon."

Prepared? Leaving with the skeletons soon? What is going on? "What for?" I asked him to know the reason.

"Why, my dear nephew, to retrieve your golden weapon of course." he answered with a small smile.

"Really?!" I shouted. I was excited. My father and uncle told me about my grandfather, master of all elements, created a golden weapon for each element. Fire, Earth, Ice, and Lightning. And now that I'm the water ninja there's bound to be one for me. But now I'm gonna get my weapon. What does it look like? I won't know for sure until I get it for it is hidden by my father after he bainshed my uncle.

"Yes." Garmadon nodded. "But you won't be able to use them just yet."

What? I felt my blood turn ice on his statment. What did he mean by that? "Why not?" I asked quietly. Hope I didn't sound like a whining baby.

"Because now isn't the time." he stated. "You'll get them when it's time to defeat my brother. But the reason why you're going along is so you'll know the location."

So that's the reason why. I'm going with them to know the way of my weapon. But where? "With all due respect, master, where did you discover my weapon's location?"

Garmadon reached into his kimono and pulled out a scroll and the end looked torn. Like it was in the middle of a fight before my uncle ran off with it. "This scroll used to be an entire map, but my hunger for power from the snake that once bit me to make me evil on the weapons made me fight for the weapons against my brother." He fought against my father to steal the weapons. All five? But that seems dangerous though. Even with four of them. My uncle said that no mere mortal can possess all weapons alone, but how would he possess all five? "But after I was banished, I managed to run off with little of this." he said while running his fingers across the weathered paper and looked at me. "It spoke to me in jibberish until I realized it was a riddle. I can't believe that I didn't see it. It was in front of me for three years."

Me? Clearly he meant me. I'm in front of him and been living here for three years. But why me? "What is the riddle?" I asked. My uncle stretched his arm out at me with the scroll in his hand, giving it to me. I looked at him confused and took it out of his grip. I kept giving him a raised eyebrow in confusion and slowly unrolled the scroll. I looked at the markings as they looked chicken scratch and I couldn't make it out. It was written in ancient time. Probably my grandfather written it. Wish I knew what he looked like. But still, why give it to me? I can't read this. And what did he mean it was in front of him for three years? He was banished when I was seven. So it would mean six years of researching.

Suddenly, the scroll began to glow brightly to make me shut my eyes. I peeked an eye to see what was happening and gasped to see the markings moving around the scroll and aligning into new sentences with the markings shifting into letters. Words that I can read. This is weird. It's not often you see a scroll light up and the chicken scratches change to actual words, right? But my next question is why did this happen to me and not my uncle?

The glow finally died and I looked at it confused. I looked at my uncle as he had a chesire grin on his face. It was creepy, but by his grin I can tell that we discovered something. "What does it say?" he breathed in amazement.

"How did you know it'll appear to me and not to you?" I quickly asked.

My uncle's grin disappeared. I upset him on the question. "I spent years trying to decipher the first part as it only said: Only the eyes of the sea could seek the location of his weapon." he answered and pointed at me. "You. The water ninja." His grin returned. "Now, what does it say?" he asked again.

I looked down at the scroll to read the words and read it in my mind mulitple times. It didn't make any sense at all. I didn't know how to say it to him. I reread the top part and realized everything was a riddle now. A riddle to my weapons location. I suddenly felt the urge to hum the riddle as it sounded like a song to hum the words. I soon began to hum the words and it sounded like an actual song.

"What are you doing?" Garmadon asked, utterly confused.

I ignored him and continued humming until I found the tempo to reveal the riddle.

_Through the perilous fog lies the temple,_

_Through dungeons deep the gold is safe._

_The guardian keeps it safe from those that seek power._

_The temple is hidden in a forest,_

_Surrounded by fog that never leaves._

_To search the temple you must cross the way,_

_The one of the element can seek the way,_

_When he sees through the fog he has found the way._

_Cross through the water and you have seek the gold._

I finished the hum and riddle and looked at it confused. It didn't make sense to me. Was it a riddle or not? Unless. No, it couldn't be. But it sounded like a riddle to my weapon's location and a map to direct yourself to it. But where? I looked at my uncle, who looked to be in deep thought, and I gave him back the scroll to show him. "Master, do you know where my weapon could be?" I foolishly asked him. "Because I don't"

I watched Garmadon's crimson eyes move along the lines. And later found them growing wide as he finished reading. "Of course, it makes sense now." he said while rolling the scroll back up. "The Misty Forest."

"The what?" I asked dumbfolded. Never heard of it. Not even in geography.

Garmadon slipped the scroll back into his kimono and looked down at me. "The Misty Forest." he said again. "An ancient forest that is surrounded by fog that never leaves. Your father hid your weapon because of your element and made me think that I would never find it. Tell me, Lucas, how is fog created?"

I knew the answer. I learned this when I was eleven. Surprised that I still remember how. "It's where rain water presipitates in condense water droplets which are the result of the air being cooled to the dewpoint where it can no longer hold the all of the water vapor it contains and the cooling is the result of rising in the air, which cools and moistens in humid climates until fog is formed." I replied quizzically. I breathed in deeply to regain my voice. Wow what a mouthful? But I know how it makes sense. Fog is from humid water in the air. And water is my element. Very clever, Dad.

"Correct." Garmadon said. "And it's where your weapon will be. I'll inform Samukai the location while you head to the gates and tell Kuzca to unlock them."

I bowed to him. "As you wish, master." I said and ran out of the throne room. I ran up the steps, by two, and reached the main hall. I saw that most of the skeletons were already gone and Kruncha was still giving out commands to those that were behind. I ran past the general and skeletons and out of the doors. While I crossed the courtyard, I could see the skeletons getting their vehicles ready to leave for the Misty Forest with Nuckal getting Samukai's vehicle ready to leave while the others were using their motorbikes and attaching the crates to the back and tying them down with rope. I even kept an eye on Sherra as she kept eyeing me as her prey. Once I crossed through safely, I reached the gates and looked around for the blind skeleton. "Kuzca?" I asked for the gatekeeper.

I heard the familiar sound of a hollow staff echoing off the walls and turned to see the blind skeleton walking up. His tattered robes and looked more torn than before and even dustier. Possibly from age. I can see his jaw was clenching in a form of a smile as he was happy to see me as I was of him. I really changed his attitude when I started talking to him as friends. "What brings you to my gates, young one?" he asked while shifting his robes to reveal his one arm.

"My master has sent me to you to open the gates." I replied. "Samukai will be here soon." I shuttered on Kuzca's story and warning. I know to never disobey him, but his past scared me and I ignore Samukai.

"As he wishes." he grumbled and walked over to the stone gates. He inserted his right arm with the missing wrist and twisted it open. The stone wall's hieroglyphics began glowing a golden yellow and began grinding to open and move. After three years of being in the Underworld, you tend to get used to the sound of stone grinding. After the gates opened to the tunnel, I couldn't see through the dark void; like an endless night that has no escape to the light. The torches began to illuminate the tunnel in the purple hue of their fiery colors. One of these days I've got to ask why most of these flames are purple. Even when they're on my bedside table and desk in my room. Not the hearth though. Kuzca removed his arm free from the slot and turned to me. "I noticed that today is your birthday." he said while sitting himself on a rock.

I looked away from the tunnel to stare at the blind skeleton confused. And he would know I'm giving him a confused look because of his special hearing to create images in his skull based from soundwaves. Like a bat; echolocation. But still, how did he know it was my birthday today? "How did you know today was my birthday?" I asked, wanting to know curiously.

The blind skeleton chuckled. "Young man, a skeleton like me can learn a thing or two outside his position as a gatekeeper." he said. "My special hearing has not only allowed me to see, but I hear far away as an owl." He reached into his tattered robes and had something in his bony hand. "I have something for you as you remind me of my son and see me as your friend." and tossed it to me.

I caught it and heard something clank. I opened both of my hands to see it was a leather pouch that looked brand new. I untied the drawstrings and opened the pouch to see gold and silver coins inside and tied the bag shut. Was it really? Was he really giving me a birthday present? I looked at him confused.

"I had that pouch ever since I was alive and kept it ever since." he continued while shifting to seat himself. "The leather has never worn or aged and will remain new forever. The coins in there are yours as I have no use for them. You can do what ever you want with them. You can even use the pouch for anything. It's yours."

I looked into his empty eye sockets and then at the pouch in my hands. It was a birthday present. One from him, my friend. I smiled at him for the gift and took the two long sashes, that are connected to the pouch and are suppose to be tied to together, and looped them around my belt and tied it tight. I shifted my new pouch around to have it hang off by right leg and looked at Kuzca. "Thank you, Kuzca." I said to him and wrapped my arms around his bony frame.

Kuzca chuckled and wrapped his good arm around me to hug me back. "You are welcome, Lucas." he said back.

I heard the engines of Samukai's vehicles pulling up and I quickly pulled away and dusted myself off real quick. I looked up to see Samukai in the lead with Kruncha and Nuckal beside him with four of the motorbikes behind him. "Get up here, boy." Samukai grimaced at me. He really hates me. I can tell. "Or spend eternity with this scum's position."

I glared at him as Kuzca wasn't a scum, but a human before. I jumped onto his vehicle and took a seat in the back. I looked at Kuzca, who gave me a nod, and I smiled back to him while mouthing a thank you for the gift. The only person, beside my uncle, gave me a present. I grabbed my mask from my belt and threw it over my face as we began to descend into the tunnel: on my way, with the skeletons, to the Misty Forest to retrieve my golden weapon.

What could it be?

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**What could his weapon be?** **If you read my other stories, you know what they are then. But if not, you'll find out soon. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. And hoped you all had a fun and safe 4th of July yesterday. See you next week. Have a wonderful weekend. :)**


	12. Storm

**Happy Friday everyone. Time for another update. Many of you guess on what happens next and shall see what happens. Oh by the way, I found and knew the perfect soundtrack for this chapter and part. Type in the link, watch?v=G4oTRqX5O3A, and when you see the mark, *, enjoy and imagine. Enjoy the chapter. :)**

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**Chapter 11: Storm**

After what seemed like hours, or decades, we finally reached the location of my golden weapon. The Misty Forest. The forest was everything the riddle said to be. A dense fog that no-one can see through the naked eye. A thick jungle-like texture of the forest to send shivers down your spine. It looked as if it was haunted with ghosts and ghouls, but I know they don't exist. But somewhere in this humid, thick canopy jungle forest is my golden weapon. Hidden away from the world and my possession. But my uncle told me I won't use it until it is time.

"How are we suppose to cross this when the fog is thick?" Kruncha complained.

"Do not underestimate me, General." Samukai spat. "There's a way through." The question is how? Fog can go away when it's less humid and this weather condition won't go away so it stays. The riddle didn't leave much of a clue to help us search the way through. It was accuriate on it being hidden by the fog. "You, boy, did the map say anything where the weapon would be?" Samukai grumbled with a knife drawn out at my throat.

Was that suppose to be a threat? Oh please. I've been in the Underworld for three years now and he's only doing it to scare me. "That thing spoke in riddles." I spat at him. "To search the temple you must cross the way. The one of the element can seek the way. When he sees through the fog, he has found the way. That's all it said for this part." and slowly pushed the knife away. "What do you expect me to do?" I growled.

Samukai brought the knife back at my throat. "Well think of something." he grimaced. "Otherwise, it'll be your life." and removed the knife away.

Bossy. Now I know why Kuzca hates him. But he would never kill the apprentice of Garmadon. If my uncle found out with the Reflective Pool, he'd be furious at the leader of the skeleton army. But still, how does he expect me to know? I'm only a teenager that doesn't know much of anicent riddles or this forest.

Let's see. Only the one of the element can seek the way. It's talking about me and my element, but I don't see any path. Just fog and trees. I removed my mask to think and slumped back into my seat and slowly exhaled. I looked up to see the fog shifting from my breath and it dawned onto me. It made sense now. Only the one of the element can seek the way. I can move fog. And fog is water. "Samukai, I know the path now." I said excitedly.

"Well get to it, boy." the hunched skeleton grumbled.

I rolled my eyes at him and jumped onto the hood of his vehicle. I held my gloved hands out in front of me and closed my eyes. I felt my powers of water course my veins and could feel the fog surrounding my body and swiped my arms out and opened my eyes. The fog was being pushed away and moving aside for us. I could see the ground as the fog was moving still to create a path with the fog creating a wall without moving anymore. Like a force field to prevent the fog from hiding the path. When the last of the fog stopped moving, I could see a narrow pathway to my weapon. "There!" I exclaimed. "That's the way!"

"Skeleton army, move out!" Samukai commanded and hopped out of his vehicle. "Leave the vehicles here, but grab the equipment."

The skeletons did as what they were told to do and climbed out of their vehicles with the crates. I eyed them curiously on why we need this to retrieve my weapon. "What's with the crates and equipment?" I asked and jumped off the monsterous vehicle and landed near Nuckal.

"Oh...uh...in case something happens." the one skeleton replied nervously.

I raised an eyebrow in curiousity at him. "Like what?" I asked. Nuckal looked at me uneasy with his one eye and walked away. He's hiding something from me. Do they all know besides me?

"You, boy, get over here." Samukai demanded. I rolled my eyes at him and walked over to him. What does he want now? I created the path for him and now needs me again. I better not be his pack mule. "You're the one who can move this fog, lead the way." he commanded.

Again bossy. I made sure my sai's were secured in my belt and threw my mask over my face. I looked at the skeletons as they were prepared to venture in. I stood in front of the entrance and felt chills down my spine as it looked like something you would read in a scary book. But instead of a serial killer or monster, there could be wild animals that could call it their home and know the way though. I took a deep breath and slowly ventured in.

...

We've been walking for hours and the temperature has been rising up. I had to remove my mask because it was hard to breathe and been getting funny comments as my hair curls to this humidity. I'm not annoyed or anything. But I think they find it amusing because I'm the only human with them. Anyway, we've been trekking for hours now and I began to hear water nearby. It sounded like a waterfall.

I moved branches away to pass through and stood into an open clearing from where the fog used to be. I could see a waterfall pouring out gallons of water from a cliff side of a mountain into a pool of water and a river leading away into the fog. I looked around to find any pathways to the temple and no fog was moved aside to create a way but this area. I must've found the location. "Samukai, this is it!" I shouted as I was ahead of them.

"Are you sure, boy?" the hunched skeleton grumbled as he used his swords to cut through the vegetation of vines and branches. "Better not play with me." He broke through the branches and walked into the clearing with the others behind him.

"I am not playing." I scowled. "There's no more pathways and this area is clear of fog. This has to be the area." I pointed the waterfall. "The riddle also said 'Cross through the water and you have seeked the gold.' The temple must be hidden past that waterfall and underneath the mountain."

Samukai looked at me and huffed. "Skeletons, advance inside." he ordered while taking the lead with me behind him. We reached the pool of the waterfall and river and I could see stones jutting out of the water to a large incline rock being poured by the water. I was being pushed forward to test the stones and found them sturdy. I hopped over to each one and immediately get sprayed with water. My messy shaggy hair already became drenched. I step on the slippery incline rock and didn't slip for the rubber soles of my shoes provided traction for me to run and begin to walk in until something grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away. "You stay here, _ninja_." he hissed. "Your master wouldn't want his apprentice to get hurt, wouldn't he?"

I glared at him, but didn't pout. The drops of water went through his ribs as he enter the water and disappeared. I moved aside to let the others through and watched them disappear through the water. I was alone now. Not worthless as I have my sai's with me, but alone.

...

Hours have passed. Or so I think. I can't see the sun to tell the time. My suit has been completely soaked as I sit on the inclined rock with the water pouring on me. And somehow I find it relaxing. Since I was alone now, I removed my gi, undershirt, shoes, socks, gloves, and even pants. I showered myself in my boxers under the warm water as I washed my body off the sweat, dirt, and oils and began to feel clean again and threw my damp pants back on and sat underneath the waterfall to...meditate.

My body felt clean now. Back in the Underworld, there's no running water because there's no river or spring source anywhere. So the only time I can bathe is when I go train my elemental powers in the river on the surface. I rather not say how I use the bathroom. People back in the medieval times had their ways with castles and fortresses. But to make sure my uncle and I have water in the Underworld, my uncle had skeletons construct a stroage tank for water. We use it for drinking, cooking, and bathing for when it's winter.

When the temperatures drop during winter on the surface, I have a tub in my room to train my powers. I even have these small skeletons, who I never asked for their names yet and appeared to be children, come into my room with buckets of water and use my fireplace to heat it up and pour it in the tub so I can bathe. I honestly can't bathe when it snows. Don't want to catch hyperthermia. My uncle gave me those skeleton kids as servants, but I don't take them for granted. But they do help me around my room such as my laundry or help me clean my room. Again, I don't take them for granted.

After I felt calmed and relaxed, I threw my grey undershirt, gloves, and gi, damp socks and shoes back on and looked at the waterfall. They've been gone for a long time and haven't returned with my weapon. What's taking them so long? I poked my head through the water to stare at a pool of water and a rocky wall. Where are they? Shouldn't there be a path into the mountain? But then, something caught my eyes below the pool of water and looked down to see a...torchlight? How was this possible? Can fire really burn underwater? I slowly crawled down, held my breath, and plunged my head under the water.

I gasped in surprise as the water felt...dry! Like I can breathe underwater. I think a shield was keeping the surface of the water away from this area for those that want to look for the weapon. It's amazing. But suddenly I saw something move in the shadows in the long tunnel. My eyes were growing wide as the shadow was enormous and heard it growl with gleaming grey eyes glaring at me. I quickly resurfaced and climbed out of the waterfall. I quickly ran across the stepping stones and stared back at the waterfall to see a shadow grow larger and heard a roar. Without hesistation, I took off running by following the river.

I sprinted down the forest as fast as I could. Branches whipped me as I ran through them. Vines would entangle me and I broke free from them. I used the river as my compass because it'll most likely help me escape the forest. What was that in the waterfall!? Did it get Samukai and the others and destroyed them? I realized that it must be the guardian as the riddle said that a guardian keeps the weapon safe and it got them. Now it's coming after me!

I heard a roar in the distance and turned my head to see birds fluttering away with the sound of trees breaking. It was definitely coming after me. I continued to sprint as fast as my legs could let me. No matter how much they burned for me to stop. The sound of trees crashing down told me that it was gaining closer. I heard the water was starting to become choppy and saw it was picking up speed. I broke through a shrub to an open clearing and stopped as the river was now a waterfall and I was centimeters from falling off the cliff. I was now trapped and had nowhere else to run.

_Stomp!_ The ground shook a little. _Stomp!_ My blood felt like ice and my heart was racing rapidly against my chest. _Stomp!_ The sound of tree falling made the birds flutter away as it was near. _Stomp! Ggrrrooowwlll!_ I was shaking in fear as I saw the gleaming eyes through the fog and felt my heart skip a few beats. This is the end.

Suddenly the guardian broke through the leafy covers and landed in front of me with a loud roar. I was screaming and fell to my knees while shielding my face as I coward in fear. I peeked through my arms to see a grey dragon with strong front and back legs. Grey scales gleaming off the mist of the waterfall. Wings that were extended to show the scars and holes in them. A dragon was the guardian my father put to protect the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu. Why would he use them? I thought they didn't exist. But there was a real dragon in front of me and it looked mad and hungry.

The dragon eyed me with his grey reptilian eyes. He folded his wings and took a step forward. I quickly went back to cowarding and shielded myself. "Please don't eat me!" I begged without shedding a tear. This was different when I encounter with Sherra. I dare not open my eyes, but felt something being softly pressed against my chest and looked to see him nudging me with his snout. "Huh?" I was confused. "You're not going to eat me?" I asked him. This was confusing. This dragon was being friendly, not angry anymore. It nudged me again with his snout and I slowly patted it on the snout. And in return it gave a rumble in its throat like a cat's purr and licked me with its tongue. "What is happening?" I inquired myself.

"Happy Birthday, Lucas!" Garmadon's voice rang. I looked around for my uncle's shadow as he using the Reflective Pool and couldn't find him anywhere. "Over here." he said.

I directed my head to his voice and spotted his crimson eyes through the fog as he was in the shade of what appeared to be an Elm tree with elm leaves that were large as maple leaves. "Master, what is going on here?" I asked. It's not everyday that a dragon chases you to a cliff and becomes friendly all of a sudden.

"My dear nephew, it's your birthday present." he replied. "Your very own dragon."

Okay he's got to be joking. This overgrown flying reptile is mine!? At first it was all angry and chases after me, but then becomes friendly to me. This has to be a dream. To make sure, I pinched myself and felt it. It wasn't a dream. This was real. "I don't understand." I sheepily said, utterly confused.

"Each elemental ninja has their own golden weapon and dragon." Garmadon explained. "Your father placed them there as the guardians of the weapons of the element. This here is the water dragon of your element. And he is yours." I looked back at the dragon as he nudged me again with his snout and I kindly patted him back. And again in return, I get a deep throat purr and a lick. I think I might like this. My very own dragon. I always wanted a pet back at the dojo, but my parents always said 'No'. But I finally have one of my own. And this was way better than a puppy. "Now that you've connected with your dragon," he continued. "You must now name it."

I looked at him and wondered about the many names for him. Lucky? Max? I started to realize that the names I have in mind were childish and wanted to give him a serious name. I studied him and as I thought of a name for him. I studied his scaly, muscular body. His grey eyes with vertical pupils of a reptile. That attitude he had before we became connected. I slowly realized that I don't have to give him a name that's childish, but give him one based from our element. "Storm." I finally said to name him.

Storm roared in reply on his name and bent his front legs and leaned to the side. What was he doing now? "Now that you name him," Garmadon continued. "You must complete the connection by being one with your dragon."

Being one with your dragon? "How?" I asked.

"Why fly with it of course." he replied. "You cannot be one with your dragon until you took your first flight with it. Return to the Underworld once you complete the connection and you'll be relieved of training for the day." and his shadow disappeared into the ground. We were now alone.

I looked at Storm as he remained in the same position; waiting for me to climb on for our ride and realized I had nothing to hold onto him with. I scanned the area to find something to help me with and spotted some vines to use hanging off an tree. I drew out a sai, told him to wait, and ran to the tree that had the elm shaped leaves, but were large as maple leaves. I cut part of the vine off and pulled some of it out until I felt a tug and made the final cut. I got enough length to use as rope and ran back to Storm with my coil of vine.

I stood in front of Storm and lengthed my vine to find the center and found it. "Can you open your mouth, please?" I kindly asked. Storm opened his mouth to show his sharp teeth and my face cringed as his breath was awful. He could use a mint or a hundred of them. I shook my head to bring myself back and placed the center of the vine in the back of his mouth and threw the ends onto his back. He closed his mouth and leaned to the side for me to climb onto. I cautiously climbed onto his back, sat down bareback, and took hold of the vines and wrapped my arms around them so I wouldn't lose my grip. I felt Storm move closer to the cliffedge and waited for me to give him a command. "Uh...okay, uh...f-fly-Whoa!" I screamed as I felt a torgue of speed as Storm launched us over the ledge and into a dive.

I was screaming as the wind was blowing in my face with my hair blowing out of my face as we were diving to the ground. Why couldn't he just flap his wings and took us off the ground, but instead went into a dive? I saw him fold his wings closer to his body and felt gravity take hold as I couldn't feel myself on his back. We were increasing in speed. To what!? Death!? I looked over Storm's head and screamed the loudest as we were closer to the tree canopies and ground. "Go up! Go up!" I screamed at him. I watched Storm unfold his wings and felt gravity again and felt myself on his back and closed my eyes as we closer to the ground and didn't open my eyes until I felt a force that made me fall back and no longer felt ourselves falling.

*****I carefully peeked one eye to see and both eyes shot open to gasp in surprise as it was happening. I was flying. I have connected. I have connected with Storm. My dragon flapped his wings as he flew in grace above the tree canopies with the sunlight finally showing in the cloudless sky. I finally saw the sun. That was scary at first, but now it's calm and fun. I think I might like this now. This will be even better than a dog or cat. Now how do you fly your own dragon?

I pulled my left arm to direct him to the left and he responded by listening and glided to the left and glided his left wing through a shower of water. We both get sprayed with droplets of water. I wiped my face to see and heard him chuckle in his throat as he thought it was funny. That's the first step of flying, what else can I do with him? I whipped the vines and Storm flapped his wings harder and we both were flying in fast speed. Okay this is too much speed, how do you slow down? I pulled the vines and we stopped. Okay that's step two. Now what?

I pulled the vines and we began to gain altitude. We broke through a thin cloud and felt the moisture on my face as we flew in great speed. What else can he do? Can he breathe fire like all anicent dragons? "Can you breathe fire, Storm?" I asked. Storm roar in deniance. "Why not?" He roared and opened his mouth. A greyish glow filled his mouth and fired an orb of water. The orb flew up in the sky and began to fall down on us and I didn't close my eyes as it drew closer. Suddenly the orb exploded and we both got showered with water and I cheered in joy as it was the most fun I ever had as we glided across the sky. The wind on my face hair was great and the heat of the sun was relaxing.

...

We soon found ourselves out of the forest and over the land of Ninjago. I could see the world around from here. The mountains. The sea in the distance. The desert; The Sea of Sands. Even the largest city in all of Ninjago in the distance. Ninjago City.

This is amazing. I can see more of the world than before. My father would never let me outside the Monastery walls. Except when my mother was still alive and she would take me to Jamanakai Village. But when she passed away, my father would never let me see the outside world because he was worried for my safety. He even told how my uncle became evil when he was young. But with my uncle and Storm, I can have the freedom I always wanted and see the world.

I soon found myself flying over a familiar mountain area. I looked over Storm's neck and noticed I was near my old home. What are we doing here? We didn't descend as we glided over my home, but I didn't want to see it. I tugged on the vines to the right to stay away from it. And Storm roared in question. "Not here, Storm." I told him. "That isn't my home anymore. My home is in the Underworld. I think it's time we head back."

Storm roared and dove down into a dive. I didn't scream as I was used to him doing that. Suddenly I noticed him curving his wings in and was doing spins as we were heading into the ground still. This time I screamed as our speed was increasing and everything was starting to become a blur as we were now acting as a drill to the ground without pulling up. What was he doing!? I immediately shut my eyes tight as we impacted into the ground as everything was dark.

Am I dead?

I opened my eyes to see I was still alive and was flying through a narrow tunnel or channel as we flew past other tunnels. Did my dragon just...teleported or something for this to happen? Storm flapped his wings to gain speed and I ducked and steered Storm to avoid icicles, jutted out rocks, bolts of lightning, streams of fire, passing through waterfalls and felt a gust of wind nearly knocking me off of my dragon. Once I saw that there was no more of the elements, we found ourselves to an open area and a dead end. I started screaming again and closed my eyes as we made contact to a swirling vortex and saw darkness.

...

"Welcome back, my apprentice." my uncle's voice greeted.

I slowly opened my eyes and quickly opened them to find myself still alive and in the courtyard of the Underworld. How did that happen? I saw my uncle standing near my dragon as he inspected him. And next to him was Samukai, who was still alive with his four arms crossed. Guess my dragon didn't kill them because you can't kill what's already dead. "Master." I greeted back and hopped off of Storm.

"Have you become one with your dragon?" he asked.

I looked at my uncle with a wondering look and didn't know if I was to feel a force or something to connect with him. Suddenly I felt Storm's head resting on my right shoulder and was nuzzling my cheek with a deep throat purr. I smiled as were one with each other and stroked his scaly snout. "We have, master." I replied. "He may have been all aggressive when we first met, but has a soft spot for his rider."

Garmadon gave out a small smile. "Good to know." he said and placed a hand on my other shoulder. "Now take him to the keep and you'll be relieved for the day." I gave him a confused look. Since when did we have a dragon keep? "To reach the keep," he continued and pointed at a stone bridge that lead to a cave. "You must cross the bridge and enter through the cave. There your dragon shall stay when you need him. Remember, Lucas, your dragon is like a pet. You must take full responsibility of him."

"I will, master." I said. I pulled the vine in his mouth and walked him over to the keep. After we crossed the bridge and entered the cave, I took the vine out of his mouth and let him roam around. Storm found himself a spot to claim and rested his body with his wings draped over his body like a blanket. I smiled as he seemed happy now to his new home and started to head back to my room. But was stopped as Storm called for me and turned to see him a bit sad. I now hate to see him like that since we just became connected. "Don't worry," I told him. "I'll be back." and made the promise to him and left for my room.

I tiredly trekked my way back to my room as I was exhausted now for an unknown reason. I guess it can be from the excitement of meeting your own dragon, connecting with it, and flying with it. As I stood in front of the doors of my room, I pushed them open to enter and shutted them behind me and locked them. I leaned against the wood as sleep was crawling up on me while I ran my fingers through my hair and drew out my sai's and tossed them to the small couch and kicked my shoes off. I drowsily walked over to my bed without removing any article of clothing and collapsed onto my bed and fell into instant sleep with a smile. This is all I could do that happened to me today.

Today was one of the best birthdays I ever had.

* * *

**We now know how Lucas got Storm. Hope you enjoyed this chapter with the soundtrack. I love this soundtrack from Avatar and knew it would be the perfect one. Again hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you next week. Have a wonderful weekend. :)**


	13. The Sai's of Water

**Happy Friday everyone. Time for another update along with a soundtrack. I said this in my third story that I'm a guy who enjoys listening to soundtracks because there's nothing good to listen to really. Anyway I'm getting off track now. Copy the link for Youtube, watch?v=1S8edAEGorU and skip it over to the time 1:44 and wait for the signal, *. Enjoy and can't wait for your reviews. Enjoy. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Sai's of Water**

_"You will never be anywhere closer to being the strongest ninja!" my father's voice shouted._

_I growled through my teeth as I kept twisting my head to find my father. Where was he? Instantly, I was surrounded with mirrors with my father glaring at me. How I wanted to destroy him and now can do it multiple times. I drew out my sai's and stood in a stance._

_"You are nothing!" he said. I growled at him and broke the mirror on the one that said it. "Weak!" I broke that one. "Pathetic!" I punched that one. I broke each and everyone as my father continued to insult me. I watched my father's shattered remains fall in showers of water and littered the ground. My anger or what I call my bad side didn't calm down as I knew he was still near. But where? "What would your mother say?" he asked. I looked up to see his head in a glass orb and growled at him for mentioning my mother. "She too would see you as a weak, pathetic, worthless child!" he insulted._

_"Shut up!" I screamed at him. "She would never say that!" I gripped my weapons tightly and threw them both in the air at him. My sai's sliced through the air like if they were arrows fired without a bow and made contact to the globe. The glass orb shattered from my weapons and began to shower broken glass. I saw what was happening and quickly shielded my face and turned my back to protect myself. I cried in pain as the thin shards sliced through my gi and my back to make blood pour out and felt one stab into my lower left lung. I lifted my head and felt a thin shard slice across my left eyebrow to have my blood blind me. I continued to cry out as the pain increased from the glass and saw the blood pool around me as I began to cough out blood and was having a hard time trying to breathe. My vision began to cloud up and I drew a choky breath and saw darkness._

* * *

I gasped and jolted awake to quickly sit up in my bed. My hands were shaking as I was trembling and could feel my heart racing against my chest. I couldn't stop trembling from the sight of the blood. And it was mine. I felt nausated and removed my black gloves to see my hands were clammy with sweat and felt my left eyebrow to find a cut. But sighed as there was no laceration. I swung my legs out of my bed to slowly and carefully walked over to my mirror as I felt unbalanced to walk straight. I slowly untied my belt, opened my gi and let gravity remove it to the floor. Taking a grip of my grey undershirt over my shoulders, I drew a deep breath and quickly removed my shirt over my head. I mentally prepared myself to see my back and opened my eyes and looked at the mirror on my back to sigh in relief to not see any open wounds and put my shirt and gi back on.

_Rrrroooooaaaaarrrrr!_ I turned my head to my window as I hear Storm calling to me. It sounded like he was in trouble. I quickly picked my sai's up and didn't bother to pull my shoes on and dashed out of my room. I bolted down the halls as fast as I could to reach Storm. My grey ankle socks felt ruined on the stone floor as I exited the fortress and ran over to the keep. I didn't have time to care though as my dragon was more important than a pair of socks.

I ran into the keep to see Storm thrashing around as two skeletons were on his back. "What are you doing?" I shouted at them as they were putting something on his back. "Get off of him!" Storm stopped thrashing around and walked over to me and bent his head down. "Hey, it's alright." I said to him to calm him while petting his snout. I glared at the skeletons as I can see them glaring at me. After being in the Underworld for three years, you can tell whenever a skeleton was glaring at you and you get used to it. "Now what's going on here?" I demanded to know.

"Your master wanted us to have your dragon strapped up with a saddle." One answered. "As you can see for yourself. He just kept giving us trouble."

I looked at Storm's back to see a harness was strapped onto his back with a seat on top of it for me to sit on him without going bareback like last time. It looked like that he was almost prepped for flight as some of the straps weren't fully secured. What was he mad about then? I saw the happiness in his grey reptilian eyes gleaming and knew the reason now. "The reason why he was throwing a fit with you two is because my dragon only trusts me since I'm his rider and doesn't trust your kind." I sneered on the last part. "So I'll take care of him and finish the last straps."

The two skeletons looked at me and shrugged their bony armored shoulders. "Whatever." the other grumbled and both started heading out of the keep. But before they left, he turned his head on me with a sly grin. "While you are at it," he said. "Make sure it clean up after him. After all, he's your responsibility." He laughed and left with the other laughing with him.

I rolled my eyes at them and sighed in relief that they were finally gone. Leaving me and Storm alone. I smiled to be alone with him and patted his cheek to comfort him. And in return, I recieved a deep throat purr and a slimy wet kiss from his tongue. I cringed a little as I smelled his breath and shook my head to bring myself back. I better get used to that sooner or later. But for now, I'll accept ot as he's my own to take care of as my dragon, pet, and friend.

...

Ugh! I never knew that cleaning up after a dragon could be so...hard and disgusting. I know he's my responsibility after all, but still didn't know it would be...gross! Anyway, besides the cleaning part, Storm was now all strapped up and ready to fly. All I had to do to finish him was to make sure the straps were tight and secured and the reins fitted him perfectly without being too tight or loose. Once I finished with my chores, I collapsed on a pile of hay that was suppose to be Storm's bed, but I don't think he'll mind if I close my eyes for a little bit after the work I did to make him comfortable. I felt sleep crawl up and rested my eyes.

...

"Lucas!" my uncle shouted. "Where are you?"

I pried my eyes open and groaned groggily as I now have to train. Even after all of the work I done, I slowly sat with much energy I can muster and stretched my arms and rubbed my eyes to wake up with a yawn. How long was I out for? It didn't matter now as I have to train. I picked bits of hay out of my messy, shaggy hair and looked at Storm. "I'll be back." I told him as I stood up. "I'll see if we can go flying later. I promise." My grey dragon chirped in a roar and nuzzle me out of his bed with his head so he can rest. I patted his snout and ran out of the keep and to the courtyard where my uncle was waiting for me.

Garmadon looked angry at me for being late. "Where were you?" he asked.

"I was in the keep taking care of my dragon." I answered his question and bowed to him.

My uncle kept the same look on his face and then looked down at my feet. I looked down too to see I still had my socks and could tell and feel that they were worn and ruined against the stone floor and dirt. I felt him staring me down with his cold red eyes and knew I made him mad about being late and my socks. My father would be mad at me too if I worn my socks out in the courtyard of the dojo because if I did do that then I wouldn't have any to wear. "Why were you late?" he asked. "And where are your shoes?"

"I...I...uh..." I stuttered for a moment to speak and closed my eyes to sigh and began to collect my words. Trying make sure I didn't him more furious. "I heard my dragon calling for me and it sounded like he was in trouble. So I ran over to him, but forgot my shoes. And when I got to him, he was throwing a fit about the skeletons. So that was why I was late because I had to get him settled. I can run back to get my shoes, if you need me to."

Garmadon sighed and rubbed his temples as he was mad at me for being late. How long was I late for? Sighing, my uncle calmed down. "No need." he said. "For being late, you won't get to fly your dragon after training. Is that clear?"

Inside, I felt depressed. Outside, I sighed. "Yes master." I sighed. There goes the fun.

"Good." Garmadon murmured. My uncle walked over to Kruncha and took a black briefcase from him and walked back to me. "For today's lesson, we will harness your elemental powers with your golden weapons."

Really!? I now felt excitement crawl up as I got over my small depression of not flying. I am gonna use my golden weapons. "Really?" I perked up. And my uncle nodded in reply. Wait. Did he say my golden weapons? I have more than one? "What are they?" I asked curiously.

Garmadon set the suitcase down and flipped the locks unlock and opened the case. I could see a golden glow shadowing his face as he reached in. "My apprentice," he said as he reached in and grasped something with both hands. "I present to you, the Sai's of Water."

I gazed in magifincents to my golden weapons. Two identical sai's made of gold with wave-like patterns on the blades embedded with grey rhinestones. I felt myself gazing down to my belt and pulled my other sai's out. I looked at them as they were my weapons of choice and then my golden weapons as they were like my weapons of choice. Was it a coincidence or destiny?

"Coincidence of your choice in weaponary when you first began your training with me." Garmadon said as he noticed my confusing moment. "But destiny as you'll use them to fight." So it's both then. He tossed my sai's up and carefully caught them by the blades and held them out to me.

I sheathed my sai's into my belt and slowly reached for my golden sai's and grabbed the handles. I gasped in surprise as I felt unknown power to these weapons and couldn't release my grip on them. The jolt of power passed through me and I fell to one knee and gazed at my sai's as they were glowing and calmly dimmed. I felt lightheaded as if they drained my energy away. "What happened?" I inquired to know what happened quietly.

My uncle pulled me to my feet. "The sai's were testing you to see if you were ready to use them." he replied calmly. How would he know? Did he ever use them before? "But you've passed the test and they've seeked their wielder. You." He pointed at me. "The Ninja of Water.

I looked at my sai's as I suddenly felt my energy regained and gripped the handles tightly. "What can I do to help myself to train and understand my powers and weapons?" I asked him.

Garmadon cleared his throat. "When my father first created the weapons, he said that each elemental ninja must harness their elemental powers to understand their weapons." he began the lesson. "To understand, you must train with your weapons to understand your powers and abilities. And to that, it'll unlock your True Potential."

"My what?" I asked, confused. So many questions I have now. "Is it a new training method to make myself stronger? Something to do with my powers? What does it look like?" Why did I just ask that last one like an idiot?

Garmadon removed his helmet to his once brown hair that was now pitch black to scratch the back of his head. "Well so far you've only reached your peak physical potential." he said quietly to find his words. "You already proved yourself strong by making your body strong to the atheltic skinny type. But your True Potential is a new power that is locked away in your heart." My heart? "To unlock it, my father said that you must never lose focus on the obstacle that stands in the way, to never hold you back from true greatness. That's unlocking your True Potential."

I nodded as it made sense. I cannot unlock it when my main objective was in the way to my powers. To destroy my father. But I felt that it was something else though. But what? "How would you know what to say about unlocking your potentail when you're not an elemental ninja?" I questioned him.

My uncle donned his helmet back on his head. "My father taught me and my brother his lessons and sayings as he never thought I would turn completely evil as I grew and train the students of the elements with your father." he answered. "But when I bit by a snake, I kept losing myself to it and turned against my brother. We fought over the weapons and I managed to grab the map of your sai's along with this torn piece of the Green Ninja prophecy." He reached into his kimono and pulled out a piece of paper that was torn and yellowed with age. "I have no use for it as the markings are in ancient language and can't decipher it. But you can keep it if you want to." and held it out to me. "It might have to be something with you."

I took the parchment and looked at it. I saw two clouds, one black and one white and both merged in the center to create the color grey. It might have to do something with me. There were markings around the cloud's borders with the ink fading, but still readable for those that can speak this language. It obviously had to do something with me as the clouds created the color grey and rain comes from clouds. Was it a symbol of mine as a ninja? Or what? I folded the parchment and carefully slipped it into my pouch and tied the drawstrings tight and gripped my golden sai's tightly. "Shall we begin now?" I smirked.

*****My uncle smirked. "We shall." he said. "Brings the guards!" Skeletons began to climb out of the fortress like swarm of wasps from their hive with their weapons drawn out and stood beside Garmadon in two rows. My uncle kept smirking as he drew out his katanas and stood in his stance to start charging beside them. I threw my mask over my face as this was my training with my new weapons. Will I be able to unlock my True Potential? Who knows? I'm ready. "Begin!" my uncle shouted and the skeletons started charging with him behind them. I didn't shout at them and charged at the skeletons and jumped with my sai's held high.

...

I was breathing heavily as I stood alone with my uncle in the courtyard. Sweat formed around the brow on my head and had to wipe it away with my sleeves. I was finished with training on my new weapons. Skeletons laid on the stone ground, unconscious. I had a few grazes, but not deep enough ones to make blood pour out. A few close calls on them. Can't say that to my suit though. But around my socked feet were not only skeletons, but streaks of dampen rock from streams of water. From my sai's.

I found out that my sai's can propel water from the blades. Like those plastic toy water guns, but more pressurized as a fire hose. Not only I can fire water from my weapons, I can even create fog with them from my eyes changing to fight the blind skeletons while I can see so easily. I even have the ability to use the mist as an advantage to fight my enemies to create more clones of myself to confuse the enemy and take them out silently. Perfect for stealth missions. My Spinjitzu has become powerful than before with the power of my sai's. And even my accuriate throws made direct contact to the skeletons to break through their armor. I like these better than the shurikens.

_Clap-clap-clap._ I turned around to see Garmadon walking up to me after he sheathed his swords. I sheathed my sai's to my belt next to my others and made sure the side guards were out to loop through my belt and the blades were under so they wouldn't slip out. Once they were secured, I removed my mask and felt the waves of relief from the cold stone hit my face and bowed. "Bravo. Bravo." he said and stood in front of me. "You managed to defeat my army in less than thrity minutes." He placed a hand on my right shoulder. "You're growing stronger, Lucas." and held his free hand out. "Hand them over." he demanded.

I sighed as I knew what he wanted. I drew out my golden sai's and held them out by the blades. And he took them away. I was disappointed, not depressed, that I had to give them back as I enjoyed having them to train and fight, but knew that I couldn't keep them as I'm still training and will keep them when the time comes. But when?

I looked at them one last time as Garmadon walked over to the case that held them and opened it. I was no longer disappointed as I knew I'll have them again to train. My uncle placed the sai's back into the case and locked it as he closed the lid. He grabbed the handle and turned to me. "I shall now take them somewhere safe so no skeleton or you can retrieve them for the power or fun." he announced. "Is that clear?" I nodded in reply as I understood. Can't have anyone take control for power. "Good." he said and began walking to a wooden bridge to reach an isle and stopped at a mouth of a cave. "I'll be using Sheera as the guard because everyone fears her. And if anyone tries to steal the weapons, they will never be heard or seen again." and walked in.

I gulped as my uncle was using my worst fears as the guard. I know to not disobey him or Samukai. But when using Sheera as a guard for my sai's, I'll be staying away from her. Not going anywhere near her when she tried to eat me before. I looked up at the ceiling and watched the queen climbed down to the cave. She turned to me to stare with her eight blood red eyes and gave a low hiss at me and walked in.

A wave of comfort and relief washed over me as the arachid was gone and heard grunts behind me and turned around to see Samukai coming towards me with a dead deer over his shoulders. He stood in front of me and threw the limp body at my feet. I looked down as it stared at me with its cold stare of death of those big black eyes. I could see the punctured mark of an arrow where he killed it. Between the shoulder blades and lungs. A clean kill. I started to feel depressed and lightheaded and felt pity as it was a young buck for it still had velvet on his antlers. Why did he kill an innocent buck and toss it to me? "What's this for?" I asked hurtfully.

"Why for your dragon of course, stupid boy." he replied with a growl as he slung his bow away. :It's his food. Now go feed it." and left me.

I was now alone as the skeletons I fought against were slowly recovering and left me with the carcass. I looked down at the buck and sighed as I can't save it now. But I think this should be the start for me to protect those that are innocent. Probably not on animals as they're killed everyday, but with people. I looked around the buck to find away to grab onto him to feed it to Storm and sighed as I found a way. I grabbed onto the short-haired light brown front legs and grunted as I drug the heavy carcass to the keep. I now vow myself to protect those that can't protect themselves. When it's against skeletons or not, I'll protect people with my life. I won't care about the consequences. As long those people are safe.

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**Hoped you enjoyed the chapter with the soundtrack. May have not been a chapter for action scenes like I would do, but it came to me as I knew this soundtrack from one of my favorite games. So I thought it was a perfect touch for that part. What did you think? Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and see you all next week. Have a wonderful weekend and summer. :) **


	14. The Present

**Happy Friday everyone, time for an update. Okay so this chapter will be very different. It does have Lucas still, but he's not in the past. It's present time. Oh and if you're ready Dying Winds right now, this will be a huge spoiler alert then if you want to read it first then this chapter. If not, you've been warned. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Enjoy. **

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**Chapter 13: The Present**

"Wow. Is that how you became so over-protective, Lucas?" Lloyd, my cousin, asked.

I looked at my twelve-year-old cousin, emerald green eyes opened wide in interest to know more. I gave him a sly grin and chuckled while ruffling his blonde hair to make it stood up. He shoved it away to fix it back to its normal bowl-cut like style while still being shaggy as mine. "Not exactly, Lloyd." I replied while shifting on the bean bag chair I sat on while my cousin sat on my lap as we shared it. "What I meant was that I vowed to protect those that are unprotected and young. Like you. That's why I'm your guardian. Along with your sister."

"So how does it involve you when you were in the Underworld?" Cole, my friend who I and all of us call him our brother as we're all family, asked. "You were on the dark side."

I looked at all of my brothers and sisters as all eyes were trained on me. Cole, the black earth ninja and leader, leaned against the wall of the living room of the Destiny's Bounty with his arms crossed over his black tee shirt and dressed in his black sweatpants. I turned to Kai, the red fire ninja, in the lounge chair that was set underneath the October fall sunset with his spiked hair casting long shadows on the floor and in his red tee shirt and jeans. Jay, the blue lightning, being all talkative was for once quiet with an arm over Nya's, the samurai and Kai's sister, shoulder on the couch with a blanket over them to warm themselves against the cool fall air. His blue tee shirt and her red tank top contrasted brightly against the thick black blanket. Over in the corner was Zane, the white ice ninja and android or 'Nindroid' as Jay called him, had his eyes closed in a lotus position of meditation, but I knew he was listening. And finally, my other cousin, who I never knew of as I was out of commission for four months due to a coma, Laurie, the orange wind ninja, sat next to me and Lloyd with her legs crossed to know more while fixing her fiery red hair to a ponytail.

My cousin and I are different. Before I fell to that God awful long coma, my uncle managed to steal all of our golden weapons and created the Mega Weapon to cause havoc to the world. And he recreated pirates that were causing trouble to the city and we managed to fight them off. Until Lloyd used his 'element' that was uncontrollable to handle caused the mast to fall. I was in the wrong place when it happened. I've been gone since early July and it's now mid-October; four months. I even missed my birthday. I am now eighteen-years-old. Not much of a birthday.

While I've been gone, Lloyd was unprotected without me until Laurie showed up after I was gone. M cousin, Laurie, was found by her father and corrupted her mind to make her believe my brothers kidnapped Lloyd and attempted to steal him back. Can't stop having apprentices can he? After she saved him from being turned into a Serpentine, she later became the second guardian of mine and her prophecy. After that, she's been haunted by a Serpentine goddess named Belinda and nearly tried to kill her, Kai, and almost Lloyd until she sacrificed her memories of her and Kai together to keep them alive. She tried everything from then to find those memories back, but was being hunted by an assassin, who was twelve named Rhea. The girl may have fooled everyone, but only little saw through her as evil. **(I'll add in the rest when Dying Winds is finished. Sorry.)**

But what makes me and my cousin different that the others was that we can still control our powers without any golden weapons. I'm still able to control my elemental water powers with my sai's while my cousin can control her elemental wind powers with her bo staff. And I think the others are jealous of us. Mainly Kai. Anyway, I'm starting to get off topic now. Where was I?

I looked at my brothers and shifted to get comfortable on the puffy bean bag chair while straightenting my grey sweatpants and dark grey shirt. I see that the color reminds me of my time as Garmadon's apprentice to have me recieve the whip scars, but the color is still grey and I like grey. "Yes I was on the dark side." I answered Cole. "But if you look at my propchey with the two clouds, it's like a Yin and Yang thing." I rubbed my neck as the muscle felt a bit stiff and tight and slowly massaged them. "The black cloud was me on the dark side while the white is me on the good side. And both colors balance out for me to be the grey ninja. A rise and fall of a storm." I stopped massaging my neck and slowly rubbed Lloyd's back to relax him. I've been gone for four months. He missed me and I missed him and my father. It's good to be back.

"Okay so answer me this." Jay prompt while bringing the blanket closer to him and Nya as she laid her head on his shoulder. "What makes you protective like you said you vowed?"

I glanced into his hazel eyes with my hazel grey eyes and soothingly stroked Lloyd's hair. Like a cat or dog enjoying the comfort. He doesn't even seem to mind either. Probably missed the comfort of his cousin. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Jay." I remarked. "It's either my nature or my unknown prophecy to be a guardian makes me protective. Which is it?"

My lightning brother had his mouth gaped open to answer, but no words came out. I smirked as I got him to make his mouth shut and he stroked Nya's hair. "I think it's both." I heard a voice other than Jay's answer.

I turned to the familiar voice to face Lloyd and smiled and chuckled on his answer. He got it right. "That's right, Shrimp." I said. "I'm a caring person, everyone knows that, and it's part of my prochey. To be caring and protective on the people I care for. Even to you and my Dad."

"Why do you call him 'Shrimp'?" Cole asked while brushing the bangs out of his bushy eyebrows.

I looked at him with a look saying 'Are you serious?' "Why do you call him Squirt?" I asked back. "Why does Jay call him Pipsqueak? Why does Nya call him Pint-size?"

"Because...he's short." Kai answered if he got the answer right.

"That's what you see. I call him it because it's what I called him when we first fought in the alley, and where I gave him that scar, but I call him that it's because he's short and it's something from my element."

"So you can command shrimp?" Jay asked while raising a scarred eyebrow.

I gave myself a facepalm and sighed. "No, you idiot." I mumbled through my hand and removed it from my face. "I call him that because shrimp live in the ocean. I love the ocean and it's based from my element. Water. And in the ocean is shrimp. He doesn't even mind that I call him that. Get that through your head, Zippy." while tapping my head to make him the idiot.

Jay gave me a slight glare and looked away. I heard a friendly chuckle of my remark and turned to see Laurie laughing. For the past few hours, she's been quiet throughout my past. I'm glad to know that the picture I saw when I was ten was her when my aunt was carrying her months after I was born. I think she said her birthday was somewhere in March so it makes me the older sibling of our generation. Me, her, and then Lloyd. But what was she laughing about? "What's so funny?" I asked her.

Laurie chuckled and stopped to breathe. "Jay's little joke." she replied while stretching her legs out and heard her knees popping into place. "Commander of shrimp. You have to admit it was funny a little. My cousin, a mermaid." and began laughing again with Lloyd following her. I thought it over and soon after began to laugh along with them. I shouldn't have been harsh on Jay now, but they were right. Commander of shrimp. That's now funny. Soon after, everyone else began to join in, including Jay. This is how it should be. Family having fun with jokes.

I was beginning to laugh harder that my sides began to hurt and coughed. I was now gasping for air and stopped laughing to throw a coughing fit. It's been too long since I had a long laugh with my family and I missed it. My throat now felt dry and couldn't couldn't find the over-sized plastic mug I recieved from the hospital after I woke up. Where was my water? I finally spotted it on the coffee table and wanted to get up, but Lloyd's weight was pinning me to the chair so I stay with him. A promise I made to him on his birthday say that I'll never leave him. And I'll keep it forever. But for now, my water. Glad my element was water and I still can control my powers. But it's been awhile though. Doesn't hurt to try though, right?

I held my right hand out to my mug and closed my eyes. I concentrated on my powers and began to feel the cool sensation in my veins as I concentrated harder. I imagined that an ocean wave was brushing across my arm and felt it retreating back. I opened my eyes to see a small orb of water above my plastic mug and smiled as I know how to control my powers still. I flipped my hand to have my palm at my facing me and the orb slowly flew across the room until it reached my palm as its new home. I brought the orb to my lips and took a long drink and felt the icy liquid running down my throat as it quenched my thrist.

I drew my hand back to see the apple-size orb that has contracted to a marble and thought over on what to do with it. I stared at the drop and felt my vision turn fuzzy and cloudy as my eyes were starting to change from their hazel grey irises to milky white as my eyes. I was now controlling the weather. My vision was now normal, but still felt my powers taking hold and concentrated. The drop began to shake and shift and slowly began to dissolve and now was a drop of fog. I felt my vision return to normal and my smile returned as I still had my powers with weather. I caught Lloyd smiling and he blew the fog away with his breath and chuckled. I chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Yeah we get it, Lucas." Kai said annoyed. "You and your cousins are able to control your powers without the Golden Weapons. Don't have to rub it in our faces."

I smirked. He was obviously the jealous one for sure. I had a good one for him. "Be grateful that I still have my powers." I spat at him. "If I wasn't the destined guardian for Lloyd, you'd be lying on the streets with multiple lacerations and I wouldn't be able to heal you. Or if you're surrounded by the Serpentine, Laurie wouldn't be able to push them away with her element." That made him shut up. I can be sarcastic from time to time. But he lead me to it. I turned to face Lloyd. "Speaking of which, how has training on you elemental water powers been going without me, Shrimp?" I asked.

Lloyd smiled. "It's been going well with Uncle's help." he replied. "I can even use your heal ability without your help." I smiled as he was learning well with me gone. "Watch." he said and held his right hand out at my mug. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply to concentrate. I watched my mug shaking a little and watched with a smile as a small orb of water began to levitate over the mug. Lloyd opened his eyes to smile on his turn and flipped his hand to have the orb come towards him. But the liquid began shaking and splashed on the wooden floor. He lost his concentration. "Ugh! Come on!" he whined. "I was so close." I chuckled and wrapped my arm around his neck to give him a noogie. He laughed along and struggled to escape. "Come on Lucas, that hurts." he laughed. "Quit it." and pushed me back.

I laughed with him and everyone else did. "Here's a tip for you." I said. "It doesn't matter if you're close or not. It only means you're getting stronger and learning faster." I brought him closer for a hug. "I'm proud of you."

"That saying." Kai spoke up. "I heard it before." I let go of Lloyd and looked at Kai confused. I never said it to him before. Or did I?

"You're right." Jay agreed. "It does."

"You heard it too?" Cole joined in. And Jay and Kai nodded.

I looked at them confused. All eyes were trained on even more. When did I say that to them? I looked at Kai, who gave me a quizzical look to study me and his brown eyes widen as if he found something. "Two years ago, a couple weeks after I turned sixteen, a kid that looked like you, Lucas, and had a thing for the sai's and came to my Dad's blacksmith shop for a request of sai's. He had the same eyes, but his hair was short and not shaggy."

"I met a kid who had the same features and came to my parent's junkyard for something on his motorbike that I knew looked familiar when he changed into it the first time we met in the alley." Jay added.

"I did too when I scaled a mountain and saved him from drowning after I surprised him." Cole chirped in.

"You three believe that Lucas was the same person you met and he said the saying to you?" Zane asked. The lightning, earth, and fire ninja nodded.

I looked at them confused and slowly remembered. When I turned sixteen, I met them before they became ninjas. "You remembered, don't you?" I asked them. They nodded in reply.

"Lucas, what are they talking about?" Lloyd asked.

I looked down at Lloyd as he doesn't know the tale. This should be interesting. "Lloyd, what time is it?" I asked.

The Green Ninja patted his pockets of his green sweatpants and held up a finger for me to wait and got off my lap and his bare feet padded on the floor as he left the room. A minute passed and Lloyd came back with something in his hands and seated himself back on my lap. He opened his hands to reveal the silver pocketwatch that I gave to him on his birthday. But it was also sad as it was the night I was dying but I came back as I have a destiny to fulfill as the guardian. He pushed the notch down to flip the cover open to reveal a picture of us with Lloyd on my lap and we were both smiling. It was early summer and we were all in the park, before Laurie came and I left to protect everyone, and we were chasing after Lloyd and I finally caught him and both stumbled to a oak tree. After I gave him a tickle fight, Nya took the picture and she called it 'A Happy Family Moment'. And that's the bond between me and Lloyd can never severed. "It's eight-fifty, Lucas." he answered and closed the watch and placed it in his pocket.

"Okay I'll tell you this story and then it's bedtime alright." I told him. "No complaining either. Or I won't play my flute tonight." He nodded as he understood and shifted around on my lap and leaned his back against my chest. I cleared my throat and looked at everyone as their eyes were trained on me. I closed my eyes to collect my thoughts and breathed in deeply to calm myself and opened my eyes. "It all started when I turned sixteen..."

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**Hoped you liked it. I warned you that there was a spoiler alert. My sister and I had this covered when merging our series together. And Laurie goes to my sister, Kaitoukiwi, and I thank you for letting me have her to make this chapter happen. I hoped you like it and can't wait to see the reviews. Here's a question. Who do you think Lucas will meet first? Have a good weekend and see you next week. :)**


	15. Kai Smith

**Happy Friday everyone, time for an update. For Ninjagosbiggestfan, you have the correct answer on who Lucas meets first. And I do have a soundtrack to go along with this. I find this one very exciting to what's gonna happen to the water ninja and fire ninja. Type up the link watch?v=GueJwpn7CRw and the time to be at is 7:50, when you see the mark ,*, let your imagination unfold to this music and part. Enjoy. :)**

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**Chapter 14: Kai Smith**

I pulled and grunted as the thing I was pulling wouldn't budge. "C'mon, Storm." I complained at him. "We need to get to Ignacia Village before sunset." and pulled his reins again. "I can't train with broken sai's, ya know." Storm pulled his head back to make me let go and fall on my chest. I stood back up and dusted my grey tee shirt and sweatshirt off. I looked at my dragon as he looked upset about something. Was he sick? He looked a little sick. "Come on, what's wrong?" I whined.

Storm gave me a low rumble of a roar and drooped his head. Something was wrong with him. But what? I need him though. My sai's are broken from training yesterday and my uncle has given me the week off to get a pair of sai's and explore Ninjago. All I have was my clothes, my pouch of coins, and a backpack to survive. And the only blacksmith there was in Ninjago was a small village called Ignacia Village. And I can't get there because Storm was refusing to move.

"It's just as I thought." Garmadon said as he came back with a thermometer made for a dragon. He followed me to the keep because he wanted to check on Strom and now has a corcern look. "Your dragon is starting to molt. He's shedding his scales." He demostrated by plucking a grey scale off of Storm's neck and he didn't whine in pain and I noticed a new scale growing in.

"I don't understand." I admitted.

"You see Lucas, everything in life as to grow." my uncle said. "You have to grow because it's your birthday today. Plants grow to provide things. Understand?" he asked. I nodded a little on the human and plant growths. But what does it have to do with Storm? "For your dragon though, it's different. Every adolescent dragon experiences this stage in life and need to molt their scales to grow. Your dragon has to shed his scales to grow. He must fly East to the Spirit Coves to grow."

I was stunned to move. I had to let Storm go to grow. I was going to lose my dragon. For how long though? "How long will he be gone?" I asked.

My uncle gave me a frown. "It could take months." he replied. "Or possibly years." He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "You need to get him outside so he can fly East. Return back so I can help you get to your destinations."

I nodded without refusing to shed a tear and grabbed the lead rope. "Come on, Storm." I commanded quietly and gave it a tug. Storm roared and leaned to the side for me to climb on. I looked at him sad and nodded and slowly climbed onto his back. Soon after, Storm began to move. My heart began to ache as I was losing my dragon. I shouldn't be upset as he'll be back again. But still he's my dragon. While I'm his rider. We've both been struck with sorrow. We came up to the gates and I pulled the reins to stop. "Kuzca, a-are you there?" I asked for my friend sadly.

I heard the familiar staff tapping the stone floor and gave a small smile as I saw the blind skeleton walk up to us. "Lucas," his voice creaky as usual. "What troubles you?"

Sighing, I stroked my dragon's scaly neck. Bits of scales fell off as I petted him. "I need to reach the surface to let my dragon fly East." I answered quietly. Kuzca scratched Storm's chin and nodded and inserted his arm into the slot and turned it. The doors glowed and opened to the tunnel and I nodded at my friend a thank you and we both ventured into the tunnel.

We finally reached the cave mouth and into dawn light. The cool summer morning air and damp humidity of dew thickened the air. It smelled great, but sighed in the end. It was time for good-byes. I climbed off of my seat of his saddle and stood in front of him. He bent his head down and I immediately wrapped my arms around him and felt stray tears run down my cheeks. I didn't want to let go, but I had to and looked into his grey reptilian eyes. "Go on." I cried. "It's time for you to grow. Please come back soon. I'll miss you." Storm gave me a small rumble and rubbed his snout on my chest and gave me one last kiss and took flight. I cried as I watched him fly East to the rising sun and dried my eyes on my sleeves of my sweatshirt as I know he'll be back, grown, and headed back into the Underworld.

When I got back into the Underworld and to the courtyard, my uncle was waiting for me with the briefcase of my sai's. Does he want me to train with them until Storm comes back? Or is it something else? "Your dragon may be gone," he said and pulled my sai's out. "but there's another way of transportation for you as a ninja." and handed me my sai's.

There is a way? What can my sai's do? "Uh...what do you mean?" I asked, confused, while looking at my sai's.

"There's more to understand your powers through your weapons." he said. "Your weapons too are the keys to your powers and you must harness the power to unlock them. Listen to your heart. Let it guide you. Think of speed and your element." and stepped back.

I looked at my sai's confused and closed my eyes. Listen to my heart. Let it guide me. I opened my eyes to move my sai's in swift motions and saw trails of water cling in the air to surround me in a orb of water and tapped my sai's together. There was a flash of light to make me shield my eyes and felt something pressed against my chest and opened my eyes to see I was inside a compartment. In front of me was a steering wheel, next to a screen was the back view and I could see in front of me. "Whoa! Did I do that!?" I asked surprised. I created a new vehicle. I could see from a monitor that showed what my vehicle and noticed it was a motorbike. But it had two wheels in the back with one in the front. A canopy was over me to probably shield me from the wind and I had to lay on my stomach to drive. This was awesome now.

"Now that you unlocked your vehicle, you must stay focus to have transportation." Garmadon said. "Now go."

I nodded and pushed the lever up. The engine whined to life and began to move forward. I turned around and headed back to the gates as I told Kuzca to leave them open for me in case I thought my uncle was giving me a horse, because I thought of it on the way back, and drove into the tunnel until I reached sunlight and continued my way to Ignacia Village. Hope Storm doesn't get jealous.

...

Finally after what seemed two or three hours, I could see the small village in the distnace. Ignacia Village. The small GPS system in my vehicle kept bothering me as it was under my chin and had to keep moving my head to see the way and road. But I finally made it. Suddenly my bike began shaking and glitching and a burst of light surrounded me and I felt like I was flying. "Whoa!" I screamed and made contact to the cobblestone ground with my sai's clanking in front of me. A groan escaped my lips and looked at my hands to see them scratched up and pushed myself to my feet. I picked my sai's up and looked at them. I began to focus to my powers to unlock my bike, but nothing happened. Why? I decided to ignore it and placed them in my backpack and began to walk the rest of the way.

The walk up wasn't too bad. It was a walk up the hill and I could see the blacksmith shop ahead. The morning sun was starting to warm up, but I kept my sweatshirt on as the air felt cold. Fall was coming soon. The farmers in the rice fields, men and woman, would arch up from the water to see who was coming to their village and would wave with a smile. I smiled back and waved to them to be friendly. I heard the sound of wood cluttering against each other and saw the children playing with wooden swords like they were samurais or ninjas. I couldn't help but chuckle. Such a nice village.

I finally reach the blacksmith shop called Four Weapons and walked up to the desk. I gazed upon the assorted weapons on display. They had swords, scythes, nunchucks, and my old favorite the shurikens, and samurai armor. In the back was a furance that I suspected was where they heated the metal to forge into weapons. And the air smelled thick with smoke and metal. A woman with jet black hair that reached past her shoulders with rich chocolate brown eyes was behind the desk and walked up to me with a smile. "Hello dear." she said sweetly. "what can I do for you?"

I smiled back at her and bowed like a gentleman to show her my manners. "Good morning, ma'am." I said sincerely back. "I would like to purchase a pair of sai's." But I looked around and noticed that they didn't have any on display. Do they make them? I felt a bit upset. "But it looks like you don't make any."

The woman still smiled. "Don't worry, dear." she said. "Anything in Four Weapons is possible." She turned her back to face the back. "Honey!" she called out. "We have a customer."

The back door opened to reveal a man walking in. The man was strong built as I could tell from his singed shirt and leather apron. He had brown hair that was messy to stand up in spikes. Unusual for a hair cut. And he had really dark brown eyes that were hard to tell the color. And by the look of his hands, they were dry and rough with callouses. Probably from years as a blacksmith. He smiled at me. "Hello young man." he said. "What is it that you want forged?"

"I would like to purchase a pair of sai's." I replied my same answer. "But it appears that you don't sell any."

The man chuckled. "Young man," he smiled. "you're the first one to ask for sai's. Most of my customers would ask for a sword or shurikens. But sai's, that's new. Let me get my son to help." He turned to the stairs. "Kai!" he yelled. "I need your help."

I heard footfalls climbing down the steps and turned my head to see a boy, that looked around my age, with the same features of his father. But his hair was in more spikes to be messier. Again, unusual for a haircut. Eyes were light brown and I could see them. But on his left eyebrow was a small notch of maybe a scar. He threw his apron, made to fit him, over his white work shirt and stood by his parents. "What are we going to make, Dad?" he asked excitedly.

His father placed a hand on his son's shoulders to smile and gestured to me. "This young man would like to make a request and we're going to make some sai's." he said and removed his hands to hand him a pair of work gloves. "Ready?"

The boy named Kai put the gloves on and walked over to the furance. "Ready." he replied and stoked the fire to heat up two bars of metal.

I watched as the father and son craft my weapons. Kai would heat the metal while his father used the hammer to craft the main shaft of my blades on the anvil with a pair of tongs. And sometimes he would have Kai hold them to use the round part of the anvil to craft my side guards to symmetric form. And even sometimes I would hear them laugh as they were having fun. Reminds me of the times I had with my father before I left him and no longer thought of them. It's been six years now and I don't care.

I watched Kai heat the two new sai's one last time in the furance and dipped them in tub of water to cool them; instantly bounding the fused metals together. A cloud of steam rose in the air and dissolved. Kai took them to a work bench and wrapped strips of leather around the handles for my grip and handed them to his father. The man gave them a quick shine and held them out for me. "How are these?" he asked.

I gripped the new leather handles and rubbed my thumbs on the smoothness of the leather. The metal gleamed in the light of the shop to show my reflection in slits. I twirled them in my hands and fingers and gripped the handles tightly. They were perfect. "They're perfect." I replied. I reached down to my leather pouch, attached to my jeans, and opened it. "Thank you. How much is this going to cost?"

The blacksmith laughed and pushed my hand away from my hip. "For you," he said. "on a specail request of weapons we hardly make, they're free."

I was stunned and unable to speak. Wow. Free sai's. This village is nice after all. I tied the drawstings closed and smiled at the three. "Thank you." I said.

"Why do you choose the sai's as your weapons?" Kai asked while removing his gloves and apron. He walked to the stairs to pick up a sheathed katana. "If you're looking for a nice weapon, the katana is the best choice to fight with." He drew it out and stood in a some sort of fighting stance while glaring at me of a challenge. Was he really challenging me?

I smirked at him. "I like the sai's because they give me balance to fight with and I like the way you fight with them." I said to him.

"You fought with the sai's before?" he asked me while raising his notched eyebrow.

Crap. Can't tell them I'm a ninja. "Not exactly." I lied. "I seen a pair of sai's before and pretended two sticks were sai's and learned to fight with them. And I thought it would be great to get a pair of my own for my birthday."

"Today's your birthday?" the woman asked. "How old are you now?"

"I'm sixteen, ma'am." I replied.

The blacksmith laughed. "You're the same age as my son." he said while ruffling Kai's hair. "He turned sixteen a couple weeks ago. But why aren't you celebrating it with your parents?"

"My parents are always busy." I lied. Oh how I hate lying to them. "They work in Ninjago City and it's always busy for them and it's hard for us to do things together. So I left them a note saying that I was on my own adventure for a week and will be back so I don't scare them." Oh my name. Can't use my real name, but an alias though. "My name is Luke by the way." and held my right hand out to Kai.

Kai took my hand and shook it. "Kai." he introduced himself. He stopped shaking my hand and grabbed his sword. "So Luke, you want to show me your sai's?" he asked.

He was challenging me. I don't want to harm, but it'll be a chance to try my new sai's though. "Sure." I replied and followed him out of the shop. Kai lead me around the shop and home of his to the side. We walked under an archway and stood underneath a cherry blossom tree. He stood in front of me and his white shirt to reveal his red tee shirt and held his sword out. I removed my backpack and unzipped my sweatshirt to show him my grey tee shirt and tossed them aside and held my sai's out. "You sure you want to do this, Kai?" I asked him, unsure of the challenge now.

Kai held his hands above his head with the blade held horizontal in a stance. "I'm sure." he replied. "This should be fun."

Fun? He's right. I've been training for six year and never done anything fun for once. I'm a teenager. I should be doing things with people around my age. Sparring Kai shall be fun. As long I don't reveal myself as a ninja or perform Spinjitzu and my elemental water powers. This was gonna be fun. I like that word. Fun. I gripped my sai's tightly and had my left leg out with my right knee bent behind me and my left sai held out and my right sai by my chest with my fingers wrapped around the side guards. "Alright I was checking." I said. "I'll make the first move." He nodded and waited for me to charge. "You're gonna lose." I warned him and charged towards him and he charged towards me.

*****"I don't think so." he doubted and brought his sword down.

Adrenaline coursed my veins and I crossed my sai's to block his sword. We both pushed against each other to push the other down, but my strength as an apprentice to a dark lord and his as a blacksmith's son, we were evenly matched. We grunted and glared at each other as one wouldn't back down until Kai drew a fist back while keeping a hand on the hilt and threw his punch. I quickly saw the attack and ducked his attack and jumped back before he could retrieve his sword to swipe me. Clever move, Kai. Attacking your opponent when he least expects it. I have a few of my own.

I charged at him with my twin weapons out and swung them at him. He blocked them with his sword. Metal clanked as I slowly pushed him back as he ducked, dodged, and parried my attacks while I too ducked, dodged, and parried his attacks. I gotta say that he's expertly gifted with the katana as I am with the sai's. But by the look of his muscles on his arms to my lean muscles, we were still evenly matched somehow. He even fights well as...well a ninja. His punches to my abdomen make me recoil in pain. Same goes with his kicks. And for an odd reason, I can feel something in him like power. The same feeling when my father and uncle perform Spinjitzu. Can he too perform Spinjitzu? I shook my head as it doesn't matter right now and returned to focus against Kai.

I blocked Kai's attack and he swiped his sword underneath my sai's and swung them up. The next thing I knew that I was disarmed and my sai's went into the blossom tree and the blades struck high into the trunk. I was now weaponless and the only way to end this match was if he pinned me. Kai swiped his sword at me while I swayed my body to dodge. He brought the blade close to my face and I arched my back to dodge and felt the blade slicing through the air and over my left eyebrow. Almost like my dream once.

I quickly regained my balance and watched him bring his sword down. I used my left forearm to block his hands on the hilt and swiped the weapon away. We were both weaponless, but he looked like he didn't have much experience in fighting than I do and I quickly clapped my hands on his ears. With him now stunned, I gave him a push back and quickly ran up the tree to pluck my sai's free and hopped back down. Kai managed to retrieve his sword back in the process. "One of us has to go down." I laughed.

"Yeah." he agreed with me. "But it'll be you though." and charged towards me. I quickly got down to my hands and swiped a kick to his legs and knocked him down to his back. I quickly towered over him and placed my right foot on his chest to pin him. I won. This was fun. Kai chuckled and tried to get up. "Come on." he laughed. "I was so close."

I laughed with him and removed my foot off of him and pulled him up to his feet. And even shook hands for the good match. "My dad once told me that it doesn't matter whether you're close or not." I told him. "It only means you're getting better." while inspecting my sai's. I remember that saying when we used to train together before I ran away and kept it close. It makes me stronger everyday.

"Well your dad must be a wise man then." Kai said. He still was. Especially when I see in the Reflective Pool. Kai looked at his watch on his wrist and picked his apron and gloves up. "Say it's getting late." he said. "You wanna stay for the night?"

Getting late? "What time is it" I asked him confused.

"Ten after seven." he answered.

My mouth literally dropped. I looked at the sun and noticed it was no longer a rising sun, but a setting sun. I was here all day? How? "How?" I asked him.

Kai chuckled. "Being the son of a blacksmith it takes hours to make a weapon." he replied. "For your sai's, it took longer. You arrived here around ten and it's now seven. So you want to stay for the night?"

Wow. I never realized the time. I have been here all day. I'm glad my uncle has given me the week off to explore Ninjago. It has given me the chance to make a friend. A friend of my kind. Not a skeleton like Kuzca or a dragon like Storm. An acutal human friend. Smiling, I nodded. "Sure." I replied and held my hand out. "Friends?"

Kai smiled back and shook my hand. "Friends." he said and lead me back to the shop. I grabbed my sweatshirt and backpack and followed after him.

...

Time has passed after my match and Kai has shown me around the shop and how to make a weapon. I found it fascinating on how it happens and he even let me try it out. Did pretty bad though, but it was fun. Later that night around dinner, I found out that Kai has a younger sister named Nya. She has the same features as her mother, but her black hair was in a bop that only touched her shoulders. She kept throwing questions like what's my favorite color, animal, all those silly questions. And since it was my birthday today, the Smiths even made me a cake. For once in my life from the Underworld, I actually get a birthday. But having Storm though was the best gift anyway. I still miss that dragon of mine.

After dinner, Kai lead me to his room where I'll be staying for the night. His room was different than mine in the Underworld. He has a normal twin bed, small bookcase, personal bathroom, and his walls were lined with various weapons. Mainly swords. It almost reminded me of my old room at the Monastery Dojo, except for the weapons though. I kept gazing at the collections of his swords. "You really have a thing for swords, don't you?" I complemented.

Kai removed his tee shirt and threw it in the hamper and missed. "Yeah I do." he replied and walked over to his dresser. I turned to see his muscles on his arms and chest and noticed he has more muscles than I do. He even has ab against my flat stomach. But we're evenly matched still. I'm not jealous or anything at all because I like how my body was when I trained myself, but surprised on how strong he was from his work as a blacksmith son. "I find swords the best weapon to fight with." he said as he opened his dresser to pull out a pair of pajama pants and a tank top and threw the tank top on. "You saw what I'm capable of. I practice three hours a day with each sword we make. My dad is gonna bring in a cot for you to use, why don't you go freshen up in my bathroom? You're my guest, you go first."

I nodded a thank you and grabbed my backpack and closed the door behind me. I unzipped my bag to pull out my own personal hygiene products of shampoo and body wash and my toothbrush and paste, because I thought I would be camping in the woods, and took a quick shower. After I was refreshed, I grabbed a pair of grey shorts from my bag and threw them on along with the shirt I had on before and quickly brushed my teeth and left the bathroom after packing my stuff. I saw Kai finishing my bed for me and past me to freshen up in his bathroom. I sat on the cot and waited patiently until a few minutes later he finally came out. "Kai, I can't thank you enough enough for the hospitality." I said.

"Hey it's no problem, Luke." he said and took a seat on his bed. "It's nice to have someone over. Especailly when they're good with weapons." He let out a yawn. "Well we should get some sleep. My dad is always up early and would want us up." He threw his comforter over him and turned his lamp off. "Night Luke." he said tiredly and laid down.

I nodded and laid down on my cot and threw the blanket over me. "Night Kai." I said back and closed my eyes

...

Morning came and everything I owned was packed. I was ready to go. But to where though? I guess wherever the road took me. After a good breakfast, I stood in front of the shop with the Smith family behind me. I turned around to smile. "I can't thank you enough for your hospitality." I told them. "Thank you for everything." and looked at my sai's and slipped the side guards through my belt loops. "And thank you for the sai's."

"It was no problem, Luke." Kai's father said while rubbing his wife's shoulders. "It was nice to have company over. But where will you go now on your adventure?"

I smiled. "Wherever the road takes me." I replied and slung my bag over my shoulders. Ready. "Good-bye and thank you." and started to head down the path.

The Smith family waved me good-bye, but Kai spoke up. "Hey Luke, wait." I stopped and turned to face my friend. "The next time we meet, I'll beat you against my sword and your sai's." and held a thumbs up to me.

I chuckled. "Consider it a deal and challenge." I said back and gave him a thumbs up back. I waved them one last good-bye and left.

* * *

**I hoped you like this week's chapter. Lucas has met Kai and they even had a weapons spar match. Now here's another: Which ninja do you think Lucas will meet next? Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week. :)**


	16. Jay Walker

**Happy Friday everyone, time for another update. I'm sorry but I don't have a soundtrack for this chapter. Usually I would for something to happen in these chapters, but I don't have anything that comes to mind. I am sorry if you wanted to hear a soundtrack for this chapter. Anyway here's my update of the water ninja meeting the lightning ninja. Enjoy. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 15: Jay Walker**

I have been traveling for hours now. My uncle managed to find me and I asked him why I couldn't conjure my Spinjitzu vehicle like before. Turns out that it was an extension of my mind from my weapons and I have to stay focused. Apparently I didn't stay focused at all as I came to Ignacia Village. But since a new day started, I managed to recreate my vehicle and drive down the road. I like this new bike. The way I have to lie on my stomach to drive as if I was swimming with the canopy over me to block the wind. Even the sound of the engine is relaxing. It's electric. I can tell the difference from the bike than the ones the skeletons use in the Underworld. Out of everything else, I think I'll get use to it while Storm is away.

As I drove down the road, I noticed that I was in the outskirts. And in the distance ahead of me was the largest city in all of Ninjago. Ninjago City. So that's where the road is taking me. But I felt like that I didn't want to go there and turned left to head West. I think it was a perfect choice. I felt that I wasn't ready to head into the city as I'm slowly adjusting to civilization. Being in the Underworld for six years can keep you away from people of your kind. It's best to take things slowly. Like when I was with Kai and his family. Slow and steady. That will win the race.

After driving for an hour or so, I began to hear something beeping. I averted my gaze away from the road to see the monitor on my right. The screen showed the exo-skeleton of my bike with a warning sign flashing with parts blinking red. Possibly damage. Perfect. Just perfect. My vehicle needs to be repaired and I never did anything wrong to it. I need to find a place to stop and check it over. I turned my gaze back to the road and saw a sign that read: _Ed and Edna's Scrap n' Junk ahead_. What luck. When there's a junkyard, there's bound to be junk. And when there's junk, there's bound to be parts. And with parts, I can fix my vehicle. Just never knew though that my Spinjitzu vehicle needed to be repaired when I can make it appear whenever.

After driving for another fifteen minutes, I finally reached my destination. I drove under the brightly lit neon sign of the owners names and slowly idled my bike into the yard. This place was filled with...well junk. Various parts and scraps were all piled around the walls while there was a mountain in the center. I noticed the small tin camper on the side and it got me wondering. Who would live here?

I looked around in my vehicle to see if there was a way out for me without it having to disappear. I noticed on the dashboard were a few switches and I flipped the one that was on the right seeing it what it can do and waited. Suddenly I heard a hissing sound and looked up to see the canopy splitting in half and flipped over me to move to the side to create into...wings of a plane? That's one way out. But this bike was weird. I climbed out and zipped my sweatshirt off and tossed it and my bag inside the bike and scanned around the deserted yard. "Hello?" I called out. "Anyone here?"

Silence. Suddenly. "Hey over here!" a voice cried.

Without hesitation, I ran to the source. I ran around the source to the other side to the center and stopped to see a boy around my age. The boy had a mop of hazel auburn hair with hazel eyes. He even had a vertical scar that ran down his right eyebrow almost hitting into his eye, but was different than Kai's notched eyebrow. But he was in trouble as he was tied up with his arms pinned to his sides by rope and was hanging on a light pole while kicking his legs around. "Uh...hey, are you okay?" I asked him. Obviously he wasn't. "What happened?" Who would do this to a person?

The boy stopped frailing and looked at me. "Oh I'm doing fine actually." he replied with a stern look. I can tell he was using sarcasm as on me. "I thought it would be a perfect way to hang out-of course I'm not okay! Can't you see that I'm tied up!?"

I raised my hands up to my shoulders in a small defense. "Alright alright calm down." I told him. I looked down at my waist to find my sai's and they were gone. I remembered that I put them in my bag. "I'll get you. Just remain calm." and I ran back to my vehicle. I unzipped my bag and fished out my sai's and ran back to the boy. "I'm back." and held one back to throw it at the length of rope hanging by his back.

The boy's eyes grew wide and started to shake. "Whoa! Where did you get those!?" he asked.

"A friend of mine gave them to me." I replied and calculated my target. "Hold still." I threw my sai at the length and made my cut. The boy gave out a shriek and faceplanted into the dirt ground. I ran over to him. "Are you alright?" I asked him and pulled him to his knees.

The boy spat out dirt and sand from his mouth and nodded. "Yeah thanks." he said. I picked up my sai that I used to throw and cut him free and helped him to his feet. He stretched his arms and then shook my hand rapidly. I felt his hands were rough and greasy from oil and could see spots on his blue tee shirt. "Oh thank you so much." he said. "If you haven't come any sooner, I would've been there for hours now." He stopped shaking my hand and took out a rag from his jeans to clean his hands off. "Where are my manners? My name is Jay." and handed me the rag.

I took the rag and cleaned the grease off. I can tell that he was the talkative type of people based from his hand shake. I finished cleaning my hands and handed him back his rag and shook his hand as an introduction. "My name is Luke." I introduced myself and drew my hand back. I looked up at the pole from where he was hung and back at him. "So what happened?"

Sighing, Jay took a seat on a battered old TV. "Being the son of an inventor and living in a junkyard as it downfalls." he replied. "People mock me for living with junk and it gets annoying. My parents left to get a few things and I've been working on my own inventions until these people come in to cause trouble. They mocked me, took my invention, tied me up, and left me hanging. Hehehe." laughing on the last part. Obviously he was a jokester too. "So what are you doing here?"

I blinked in surprised. So he lives here. I can see why people would do such a thing to him. But that's awful. I heard the sound of snapping and brought myself back to see Jay snapping his fingers in my face. Oh right his question. "Oh...uh, I was driving down the road on this motorbike I have and it suddenly acted funny." I replied. "I thought it was a coincidence that I happen to see this and thought someone could help me."

Jay lightened up. "Well since my dad is away for awhile," he said while getting up. "let's go take a look."

I smiled back. "Thank you." I said and lead him around. I slipped the side guards through my belt loops and really need to consider a belt or at least the one from my suit. We finally came to the entrance and showed the bike. "Here it is." I said as we came closer.

I looked at Jay to see his mouth open in awe. I think I surprised him well. "This is yours!?" he asked surprised. "This is awesome! How did you get it!? I never seen anything like it before."

I looked at him and quickly thought over a story. Has to be different than Kai's as he has now seen my vehicle. "Uh...my uncle made it for me." I lied. Can't let him know my uncle is a dark lord. "My birthday was yesterday and he gave it to me for a birthday gift as I turned sixteen."

"You're sixteen?" Jay asked. I nodded. "Lucky. I don't turn sixteen until September." he pouted and began to chuckle. I couldn't help and laughed along with him. "So what's the problem?"

I brought him closer and showed him the monitor and flipped it on. "See those red parts?" I asked him and he nodded in reply. "My uncle made this feature to warn me if my bike had any problems. I guess he really cares for safety." Not really. He doesn't care if I cut myself from weapons training. Or sprain something.

Jay inspected the screen and carefully studied the locations of the redden areas and inspected my bike. He looked underneath to see in surprise that there were jacks underneath instead of my front wheel. This is one weird bike for sure. He then went back to the monitor and went behind my bike and back at the monitor. He tapped his chin in thought and turned to me. "Answer me this." he demanded not harshly but calmly. "Is it gas powered or electric?"

"It's a electric." I replied and demostrated by placing my hand on the lever to push it up quick and down to show him the engine revv. "See."

Jay chuckled and reached into his pockets of his jeans to pull out a pencil and positioned it as a pointer. "To clarify," he began and pointed to the redden areas. "see these areas of your bike?" Duh I can see them. What does it have to do with anything? "Well to be honest, I find this odd in most vehicles. Both gas and electric." I looked at him with an raised eyebrow of confusion. Jay caught my look and pointed at the redden areas in the back. "See here." he continued. "These parts happen to be the muffler and axises of the bike while the one in the center is the engine." and pointed to the center. "Now what makes it weird is that your bike is overheated."

Wait really? My bike is overheated. Never knew. It was odd, but weird. My vehicle can appear when I focus on my golden weapons and can get overheated. I guess it's another extension to understand my weapons. Sighing, I crossed my arms and ran my fingers through my short hair. I had to trim my hair was it was starting to be a bother to me and want my shaggy hair back. "So now what?" I asked Jay. "How long would this take?"

Jay threw the pencil back into his jeans and scratched the back of his head to ponder. "Hard to say." he replied. "My best guess would be an hour to a few. You seemed to push the limits on them to make them overheat and need to cool down."

Perfect. Just perfect. My magical vehicle needs to cool down because I pushed the limits. I'm glad to meet Jay to give me tips as he knows more than I do on vehicles. "So what can we do to pass the time?" I asked.

Jay shrugged his shoulders and then snapped his fingers as something came to him. "Hey would it be a bother if you help me with something I'm working on?" he asked. I shook my head as he looked in need of help. A smile grew on his face. "Great." he nearly squealed. "I really needed an extra hand on this. Come on, I'll show you.' and slowly lead the way with me behind him.

"Hey look!" a voice shouted. "Rat-boy escaped and has a friend."

We both stopped to turn around to see six people by the entance. These people were big and small and all looked like a gang. Their hair was greased up to have their bangs combed over to the back. And they even wore leather jackets with a snake as the igsignia. Who are they? I noticed Jay was shaking a little while he glared at them. "Who are they?" I asked him.

Jay looked at me as if I never heard or seen them before. Which in fairness I didn't. "They're the Serpentine Gang." he replied sourly. "They honor the Serpentine and cause trouble to me all the time. They're the ones that tied me up and took my invention away."

The Serpentine. I heard of them before. My tutor and uncle told me about them. Long ago in ancient Ninjago, the Serpentine once ruled the lands. There were five tribes name the Hypnobrai, Fangprye, Constrictai, Venomari, and the Anacondrai. They all hated each other and each had a special advantage when in war. The Hypnobrai can control people. Fangprye's can turn people into serpents like them. The Constrictai can give people a squeeze till they die. Venomari spit this hallucinogenic venom take make people face their fear. And the Anacondrai can turn invisible. But the people retaliated and created the sacred flutes to use against them and seal them into their tombs. No-one knows where they are and are most likely extinct.

I glanced over the one in the center of the group, which I suspected was the leader, and gave him a death glare. My vow was of protection was taking hold. No-one should do this to anyone and take their things away. Especially Jay. I took a step forward and glared at him. "Give Jay back his invention and get out of here." I demanded.

The guy in the center step forward and pulled out a comb and combed his hair. "I don't think we met before, kid." he said in a synthetic Italian accent. "The name's Butch. Now I don't think you heard of us, but we cause trouble in these parts. But I don't take orders from anyone." He moved his sleeve up to show me a watch. "Ya see, I like this watch he made for me and like to keep it." What's so special about it? "It's a hologram." He pushed a button to show a hologram of the time and noticed my bike. "And this bike looks nice too. I might even take it a spin."

"Don't you dare touch it!" I exclaimed and drew my sai's out and held them like dagger. Just to threat them.

The gang saw the threat and didn't flee. "You see this, boys?" Butch laughed. "This kid wants to tussle with us. Let's show him our code." and pulled out a length of chain. The others slowly pulled out bats and knives and slowly walked to us.

Crap. What did I just got us into? I found myself stepping back to Jay and we both were slowly walking back to the base of the center. We were now surrounded. Hope Jay can fight like Kai. "Jay, can you fight?" I asked him and felt my back pressed against the junk.

"Uh...a little." Jay replied, slightly scared. That's not good enought though. "But I'm a fast person to run. I even made these myself." and pulled out a pair of homemade nunchucks and spun them over his head.

Nunchucks! Yeah that's good. Even with speed. Let's see, Jay dealt with all of them at once, so let's even the herd. So Jay can't see me as a ninja. "Jay, I have an idea." I announced.

"Lay it on me, Luke." he said.

"Start running and attack those that follow." I commanded like a leader. "I'll stay here and hold the fort."

"Got it." Jay agreed and took off running. Like a lightning bolt.

Wow! He wasn't kidding. He was fast. And yet, I felt the same feeling in him as I did with Kai. It couldn't be. I must be imagining it. But yet he and Kai had the same feeling I can sense in them like in my uncle and father when they do Spinjitzu. Butch saw what was happening. "Two of you go after Rat-boy." he commanded and two ran after Jay. "The rest stay and we'll show this new guy our code." and took his coil of chain and swung it around.

I glared at my share and stood in a defensive stance. This will do fine. Butch swung his chain at me and saw it coming towards me. I quickly stepped to the side and the links rattled by my ears. And if time has slowed down, I saw a chance to slip my sai blade through the link and gave it a pull. I heard Butch gave out a surprised scream and saw him stumbling towards me. I had my back turned on him and used my left elbow to make contact to his abdomen. Once I heard him grunt in pain, I quickly turned around and sent a kick to his chest and watched him fly back and collapsed into crates.

Butch laid on the ground with the wooden crates crumpled under his weight. A groan of pain escaped his lips while clutching his chest. He lifted his head to glare at me while moving his bangs out of his face. He turned to his colleagues. "Don't just stand there!" he shouted. "Get him!" The three nodded and charged towards me.

I glanced at the greased blonde, messy red head, and shaggy burnette and stood my ground. The blonde swung his bat at me and I ducked and crossed my sai's as he brought the piece of metal down. We both pushed against each other until he drew back and I heard the sound of feet shuffling and looked to my right to see the red head running at me with a knife. I quickly jumped over him as he continued running and crashed into a light pole and held his nose as blood was gushing out. Once I landed, I was caught off guard and was recieved with a punch to the jaw and a kick to my abdomen from the burnette.

I clenched my jaw and felt it swell a little and tasted copper on my tongue. I spat out the blood and growled at them. They kicked in my bad side. "You three have done it now." I said and looked over my shoulders in case Jay was around. Thank God he wasn't. I smirked at them. "Ninjaa-Gooo!" I shouted and created my Spinjitzu. I can see through my misty tornado and saw their shocked expressions and directed it towards them as they remained frozen. I landed a punch and kick and sent them off their feet and watched them land by the entrance and stopped spinning. I looked down to see I wasn't dressed in my ninja suit and then glanced at the three members as they slowly stood up. I glared at them and took a step forward.

The three gave out a small yelp and scrambled out as fast as they could. "Get back here, boys!" Butch shouted while getting up with one arm over his chest. But they never came back. He growled at me and drew out a knife. I heard two more yelps and saw the others that were chasing Jay running away and stood by the entrance; waiting for their leader.

Jay was running up and stopped beside me. I could see he fought well against them as bruises were shown on his arms and dried blood on his nose. He was breathing heavily and glared at Butch. "Give it up, Butch." he wheezed to catch his breath. "They're gone and you're all alone. Now it's time for you to slither away. Hahaha." he laughed on the last part. I laughed along with him as it made sense to their dumb snake gang.

Butch growled at us, dynamic dou, and turned to Jay. We can tell he was angry at us for mocking him and his gang, but we didn't care. No-one does this to anyone. Especially to my new friend. "Hey freak." he addressed me. "Let's see if you can stop this." and the knife by the blade and threw it at Jay.

A silent gasp escaped my lips as I saw the blade slicing through the air towards Jay. He was ludicrous now. Not only him and his gang tie Jay up, but attemping murder. That's just awful. I caught Jay closing his eyes as the knife drew closer to him as he was ready to embrace the pain. In a quick reaction, I caught the knife by the handle; inches of the blade by his heart. A cool rush of adrenaline ran in my veins and I sighed in relief. Jay opened his eyes and looked at me, shocked. "I know now isn't the good time, but friends?" I asked.

Jay looked at me if I was crazy, but smiled. "Friends." he agreed.

I smiled that I have another friend. A weird way to make one though. Untying him from a pole, introducing ourselves, and fighting off a gang, and saving his life. I dropped the knife and turned to Butch. "My turn." I mumbled and drew my sai's back and took a step forward to throw them. My sai's sliced through the air as Butch raised his hands up to defend himself and the side guards caught his wrists and pinned him against a sheet of wood. I watched the greaser struggle to escape and I found myself walking up to him. He started shaking as I stood in front of him with my arms crossed and with Jay next to me. I looked down at his wrist and removed the watch to retrieve and looked at him. "Night night." I said and slammed my right fist into his temple and watched him hang his head with his eyes closed; unconscious.

I plucked my sai's free and quickly jumped back as the leader fell limp to the ground. A cloud of dust rose up and surrounded and trailed behind him as the remaining two drug him away. "Yeah that's right!" Jay screamed at the gang. "Slither away and never come back!" I laughed in victory and handed him his watch back. He smiled and latched it around his wrist. "Thanks man." he said. "Glad you were around to help."

"No problem." I replied. We walked over to my bike and check on how it was doing. Sighing, the bike was still overheated. "Well my bike is still overheated." I sighed. Not that I don't want to get out of here real fast or anything, just saying. What kind of friend would I be if I left instantly after helping Jay with dumb gang members? "So you want to get to that invention of yours before we got interrrupted?" I asked.

Jay fumbled on the notches on his watch and made the hologram disperse from the light. That's impressive technology. Even from a teen around my age until next month and then he'll be sixteen. He turned to me to smile. "Sure." he replied and took off running. I quickly ran behind him and everytime I look up, Jay was ahead of me by twenty feet per second. He was a fast runner for sure. Jay stopped in front of a pile of junk and I finally caught up to him and was breathing heavily. Wow! I'm a fast runner, but he runs much faster than me. Once I gained my breath, I watched Jay remove a tarp to reveal a door and opened it to walk into the hollow hideaway and came out with a box. "My parents don't know about this place, but it's my own personal workshop." he said and pulled out a tool box and closed the door.

"Or a laboratory." I chriped in a joke.

We laughed in on the joke as Jay hid the door with the tarp. He walked over to me with the box and opened the lid to reveal two watches. Does he have a thing for watches like Kai does with swords? "So you know that I'm capable to make this hologram watch." he began and pulled out the two watches. "But now I'm making these two as communication devices for my parents so I can contact with them with mine." and reached into his tool box. "But now I'm still working on the kinks. I really need to get these finished since their anniversary is coming up and can really use the help." I took one of the watches and nodded that I would help. "Great." Jay perked. "Let's get to work." and pulled out a screwdriver and handed it to me.

...

All day was exhausting. The sun has been baking on the back of our necks with sweat dripping down. We may even have sunburn a little. My hands are rough with little callouses forming and greasy with oil. Not from watches, but after we finished with them, Jay introduced me to his other inventions such as this robot he's been working on. Apparently he's been working on an android, or artifial being of a human, and we've been busy with that all day. All day with tinkering with wires, getting covered in oil and grease, and working with the cogs and wires to get the limbs moving little by little. It paid off though to be his extra hand, especially when chasing those Serpentine wannabes away. But it's interesting to know about mechanics. Even when someone whose close to my age until next month.

The sun has started to set as we both been busy with the android. Jay recieved a call from his parents saying that they'll be staying at his Uncle Ben's and Aunt Mary's house for a visit and the night in Ninjago City. So it's just us then. He lead me up to the center of the junkyard and climbed up with me behind him to the top to see a small makeshift patio. "What is this?" I asked him as we stood on the wooden platform and heard a small groan underneath our feet. Was this even stable?

Jay moved pieces of junk away with his shoes and flipped a bucket to sit down. "This is my hang out area during the summer." he replied with a small smile. "Every summer I come up here to hang out and stay for the night. The view is awesome and the sunset is amazing. Take a look."

I turned around to stare in awe. He was right. It's amazing. The sun setting in the horizon with the rays blending into amazing warm colors. It was magnificent. But then, something came to me and I turned to Jay as he fiddled with the nunchucks. "Jay, when did you become fond of those weapons?" I asked him. "How do you know how to use them?"

Jay placed them down and looked at me. "I have no idea." he replied. Really? "It came to me in a dream. I'm an inventor's son and that's how I get my ideas. I found myself with these and was fighting off clowns." Clowns? "They're my worst fear. So then on, I made my own and find them awesome. How did you get into those weapons?"

The tables have turned now. Can't tell him that I'm a ninja. Even when I exposed myself to that gang. "I once saw a pair and then used two branches to fight with for fun." I lied to keep it a secret. "So then on, I got a pair of my own. So you've been into inventing?"

"Ever since I can remember." Jay replied and his smile disappeared slightly. "I don't enjoy living in a junkyard, but it allows me to invent. I also do cooking, poetic work, and the occasional inventing. Since I have my downfalls on the failures, I rise back up in victory."

I chuckled. "Reminds me of a saying my father told me when I struggle on a task." I said to him. "It doesn't matter whether you're getting closer or not. It only means you're getting stronger or better." I sighed as memories began to flood into my mind as I thought of me, my mother, and father. I can see us together as a family we used to be. I've been gone for six years now from his life and in the Reflective Pool, I can see him aging than before and alone in the dojo. Something is wrong with me now. I'm starting to develop...feelings for him. Why?

"Proud words from him." Jay agreed to bring me back to realitly. He looked at his watch and pulled his jacket on. "Say it's getting late, want to stay for the night while your bike cools off?" he asked.

I looked at the evening sky and noticed the sun disappeared and the stars were starting to show. I smiled at him and nodded. "Sure." I replied and pulled my sweatshirt up.

Jay told me to wait and climbed back down the mountain and into his trailer. A few minutes later, he came out with two sleeping bags and pillows and ran back up to me. A campout. Sounds like fun. All through the night, we've been talking the night away. I was right. Jay is a talkative person. A fun one even that's great with inventions and jokes. It's nice to socialize with someone. With Kai, we just sparred. But with Jay, we socialized.

...

Morning has come for both of us. After a light breakfast of junkfood, my bike has cooled down and I was all packed and ready to go. Seems a bit upsetting that I have to leave Jay, but there's more of Ninjago to explore and he understood. We both stood by my bike and I slipped my sai's into my bag and set it down in my bike and looked at Jay. "Well this is good-bye, Jay." I told him. "I had a great time and thank you for the hospitality."

Jay smiled. "Hey it's no problem." he said. "You helped me get rid of gang members to stop bothering me and helped with my projects. I had fun." He held his right hand out. "Hope you have a good time on your adventure and hope to see each other again."

I nodded and shook his hand. "Thanks." I replied. "Hope we do more of that robot together."

Jay nodded. "Will do."

I smiled and let go of his hand. I climbed into my bike and laid down on my chest and waved him a good-bye. And he waved back. I flipped the switch that opened for me to climb out and heard the familiar hiss as the canopy cast a shadow over me as it closed and the engine whined to life. I was ready. I pushed the lever up and I was off. Taking the same road down to wherever it takes me? Upset that I had to leave a friend like him and Kai, but they understood my reason to leave. But it was also to keep my identity a secret.

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**I hoped you enjoyed this weeks chapter. I had fun writing this chapter. Now who's Lucas gonna meet this time? Find out next week. Have a wonderful weekend and see you next week. :) **


	17. Cole Brookstone

**Hey everyone happy Friday and as usual time for an update along with a soundtrack. This soundtrack, I think, was the best for the chapter. Type up the link watch?v=QtX81rdi6q8 at 1:25 and when you see the mark, *, enjoy. :)**

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**Chapter 16: Cole Brookstone**

I've been traveling for hours now. After I left Jay's place, I've been traveling down east for hours. I think it's the afternoon now. I've driven past deserts. Snow-capped mountains. And even a forest. I don't know which one, but it's definitely not the Misty Forest or Forest of Tranquility. The vegetation was thick so I couldn't even drive through it to the path so I had to lose focus on my vehicle to be normal and placed my sai's in my backpack to venture in. I think it was best so I don't overheat it again. Plus I enjoy walking through the forest. Reminds me of where I always train my powers.

As I traveled through the forest, I found a waterfall along the bank upstream and took this as an opportunity for a break and to meditate. I have nothing but my grey silk shorts on as I sat cross-legged on a rock that was above a waist-deep pool underneath the fall. I even cleaned myself to feel fresh after from the feassco with Butch and his posse. Those guys managed to put up a fight against me. But were no match for my Spinjitzu. Not to be gloating, bragging, or even cocky, it was actually fun to defend someone in need. My vow or resolution was promising.

As my eyes were closed underneath the rushing water, I began to feel relax. The cool water was sending shivers on my skin to have the small bumps appear. It felt relaxing considering the temperature was rising to make the air humid against the spray of water. I do miss the feeling of water running through my hair as my once shaggy hair was gone. This haircut made my hair really short and I hate it. I look like I'm ten again. My shaggy hair was like my trademark as a teen, but it kept getting into my eyes from time to time. But I'll be glad once it grows back. As long I keep it even to where it's not too shaggy or short.

After I washed myself clean from all day tinkering and being covered in grease and oil and small sunburns with Jay, I've been either swimming in the river or meditating under the water. The sound of the water pouring on my head blocked all sound from me. But I am able to hear all types of sounds in the distance. I'm the Ninja of Water, I have heightened hearing when I'm underwater. Unlike most people when they listen underwater, I have the ability of a whale's hearing when underwater. I can still hear the birds chirping. Leaves rustling to the coming September month. The soft howl of the winds in my direction. The sound of rocks tumbling along with the grunt of a person.

Wait what? Rocks tumbling and the grunts of a person? I opened my eyes to scan the area as the sounds were close. _Splash!_ I quickly turned to the source and saw the ripples of an unknown object ripple far from my spot with the small air bubbles emerging. I poked my head out of the fall to look up and saw nothing as the afternoon sun burned into my retinas. I squinted and visored my eyes to the light and saw something on the falls and quickly retreated back as I saw a rock hurling towards me and it splashed near me. "Crap!" I heard someone shouted. Someone was up there. "Whoa!" and something splashed in front of me.

I quickly jumped back in surprise and felt myself surround in water as I fell back into the pool behind me. I felt petrified to move as the surprise jolted my limbs to be immoblized to move. I could see that I was moving, but couldn't move at all as the current was carrying me. My lungs began to scream for air as they were buring and aching. I couldn't even create my air bubble as the shock made it hard to concentrate my elemental powers. Moving was more important than your powers if you're drowning. My lungs continued to beg for air and I saw darkness surrounding me as I was about to pass out and drown. How ironic by my own element.

As the darkness consumed me, I felt a pair of strong hands grab my arms and pulled me up to the surface. I threw a coughing fit to spit out water and breathed in at the same time. My lungs were relieved to feel the sweet air burning into them to breathe. Alive. I was alive still. I hugged the grassy side of the river bed and continued to spit out water as I breathe the oxygen for my lungs. "Hey take it easy." a male voice while my back was gently patted by a hand. "You alright?"

I slowly turned my head to see a blur of a teen around my age kneeling next to me, worried. He had real thick black shaggy hair with bushy eyebrows that wetted down as his bangs were plastered to his forehead. Dark amber eyes that were wide with worry as I gave out raspy breaths. He had no shirt on to reveal the muscles on his arms, shoulders, chest, and even abdomen. Like he's been hitting the gym everyday. But the only thing he had on were a pair of black shorts and a one strap backpack across his chest. He continued to pat my back as I still spat out water and felt tired from the adrenaline and exhaustion coursing my veins while my vision started to cloud up. "Th-thank you." I responded with a quiet, raspy voice and closed my eyes as the darkness consumed me still into unconsciousness.

...

I felt myself surrounded in darkness and slowly groaned as I slowly pried my heavy eyes open. With my will power, I slowly opened my eyes to stare directly at the setting sun and immediately shut them away from the light. I felt stiff and tired, but managed to hold my head as a massive headache grew to bring the pain to my head and felt something fall on my lap. Still in pain with my headache, I slowly opened my eyes again to look down and saw a soft black blanket over my right shoulder and lap. Where did this come from? I also noticed that I was wearing a black tee shirt. Where did this come from too? "Well look whose finally awake." a voice chirped in. "Good morning Sleeping Beauty."

I suddenly recognized the voice as it was from the teen that saved me. I slowly turned my head to his voice and spotted him looming over a fire with a cooking pot over the hearth. I can see shadows on his tan face as the fire casted his shadow. His hair was now dry than before and was wearing a black tee shirt that seemed a bit tight on him because of the muscles I saw compared to the one I'm wearing seemed a bit loose to my lean body. I continued to hold my head as it swam with pain and looked at the dark amber eyes of worry and heard him sigh in relief. He must've been worried and happy to see me awake. "Wh-what happened?" I asked the raven-haired teen with a raspy voice and began to cough again.

The teen ran over to me with a water bottle in his hands and knelt next to me. "Take it easy." he said in a reassuring tone. "You're still hungover from your swim and need to breathe."

I finally stopped coughing and nodded at him and took a deep breath. He uncapped the bottle for me and placed it softly in my hands and helped me lace my fingers around the hard plastic surface. "Thank you." I said to him and brought it to my lips and slowly drank. The coolness of the liquid felt soothing to my burning throat and finished to the last drop. My head started to feel better and observed my surrounding area as it was different than from where I was before I fell to darkness. The waterfall was nowhere to be seen, but a rocky wall. I was leaning against a tree with my backpack by my side. "Where am I?" I asked him. "Who are you?"

The teen gave me a small smile as I was fine to him for saving me. "My name is Cole." he replied and took the water bottle from my hands. "I was worried for you as you passed out at the river. So I couldn't leave you all alone and I carried you to my camp." He scratched the back of his head and rubbed the back of his rough hands in discomfort. I think he had some bad news to break to me. But what? "My camp happens to be on the side of a mountain not far from the river."

Wait what did he say? I was on the side of a mountain? I looked behind the tree and saw a wisp of clouds breezing by with an eagle soaring by us. I was on a mountain side. But how did I get here though? "How did I get up here then?" I asked him.

"Well the simplest thing really." Cole replied. "I carried you on my back and climbed the mountain side." and walked back to the fire to stir the contents in the pot.

He carried me? I must've been heavy for him. I'm like one hundred and sixty to seventy pounds in weight. There was no way he could've carried me that easily. "I must've been heavy for you." I told him. "I'm sorry for the trouble you had to do."

Cole stopped stirring the pot and reached into his bag to pull out two bowls. "Nah you're fine." he replied while laddling the contents out with the ladel and poured it into each bowl. Must be dinner. "You were light as a feather. I'm really strong for people around my age and can lift things three times my weight." He began to chuckle. "Sorry if I'm gloating, but you hungry?" he asked and brought a bowl to me and handed me a spoon.

I took the bowl from him and gave him a smile. "Thank you." I said to him and looked at it. I couldn't tell what it was soup or not. It was definitely not chicken noodle, but had a violet tint to it. I took a small spoonful, blew on it to cool it, and brought it to my lips to sip. I suddenly froze as the taste surprised me and wanted to spit it out, but didn't want to offend him and slowly swallowed the soup. "It's very good." I coughed. "What is it?"

Cole smiled and took a bite of his soup. He didn't even cringed as I did when he took his share. Must be immune to his cooking. "I call it Violet Berry Soup." he replied and took another bite. "My culinary work that took me three days to make it just right." Three days? Why that long? "I just use the right amount of spices to perfection. Go on, eat. You could use it after your swim."

I nodded him a thank you for dinner and took another bite and didn't show any signs of disgust to him. It's not really one of the best soups I ever had, but I think he may have over-used on the spices. After dinner, I was able to have little of my strength back, but Cole kept insisting me to hug the tree because I looked unstable to balance myself. I think he's right because if I take one step, I'll collapse. He's like one of those guys that's perfect to be a leader for the care and safety of people. I continued to hug the tree while Cole washed the bowls with a jug of water from his bag. "Hey listen," I breathed with my still raspy voice. I really need my voice back. "I can't thank you enough for everything. Saving me, caring, and even for giving me dinner."

"Hey it's no problem." the black-haired teen said as he scrubbed the bowls clean. "I couldn't leave you there alone after you passed out. So I found your belongings and carried you to my camp. It's safer up here than down there." Unless there's mountain lions or the possiblity of falling off on accident, I'll agree with that then. He stopped scrubbing the bowls and rinsed them clean. Then he dried them off with a dish towel and looked at me with a wondering look. "By the way, what were you doing there alone anyway...uh?" he asked while asking for my name.

"Oh...uh...my name is Luke." I introduced myself. Keeping that name as a cover story. Again I don't want him to know that I'm a ninja under my uncle whose a dark lord. "I was having my own adventure while my parents are away as I turned sixteen the other day. Might I ask you the same question?" The tables turned now.

Cole finished drying the dishes and placed a lid on the small pot and setted it aside to cool off. "Well first off, happy late birthday." he said and placed the bowls in his bag. "And to answer that, I'm doing the same thing as you are. Having my own adventure. But different than yours."

I gave him a confusing look. "How so?" I asked.

Cole scratched his head and sighed. "You see," he began. "I ran away after I turn sixteen in April for being a dancer and..."

I couldn't help but interrupted him by chuckling. "I'm sorry." I laughed. "But you, a dancer?"

Cole furrowed his bushy eyebrows while shooting glares at me. "Hey I didn't have choice." he said while crossing his arms. "My dad is a dancer for his quartet called the Royal Blacksmiths and he wanted me to become one too and follow his footsteps. So he sent me to the Marty Oppinheimer of Performing Arts School when I was fifteen. I hate dancing because I wasn't very good at it all because of the Triple Tiger Sashay incident." I gave him a confusing look. The what? "Oh." he just realized my confussion. "The Triple Tiger Sashay is the most difficult dance move ever in the world. But since my dad thought a _seven-year-old_ could do it, I fell flat on my face and faced humiliation. So after I turned sixteen, I ran away to have my adventure in what I like doing the most. Mountain climbing."

I was intrigued with his story. He too ran away because his father wanted him to do the opposite. His wanted him to be a dancer while mine wanted me to be not the Green Ninja. I can say that we have things in common. We both wanted to do something to make us happy and proud while our fathers reject them. Basically shattering our dreams like mirrors. But as we both ran away, we made them come true. I became the Ninja of Water. And he became this...buff mountain climber.

I nodded at him as I understood his story and looked down at his arms. "Have you ever been this...strong." I asked stupidly.

Cole chuckled. "Not really." he replied. "When I was thirteen, I began to fall in love with rock climbing and wasn't much strong to pull myself up. So everyday I did my own workout routine at home. Basically push-ups, sit-ups, those home remedies. Since my dad wanted me to dance, I didn't have the equipment to use to workout. So I saved the allowance I had and earned and at fourteen I had my own workout bench to use. So I worked out everyday as it felt great and became this." He removed his shirt to show off his muscle. "I'm hard as a rock." and hit his pectoral muscles to show his toughness.

I was impressed. Not jealous as I like my lean muscles, but impressed. I began to feel balance regained back to my body and took my first step on the rocky surface and sat next to him by the fire. I suddenly want to see just how strong he was. Maybe instead of fighting like Kai or Jay, maybe something else. "Hey listen, this may sound crazy, but want to wrestle?" I asked him.

Cole stopped as he was about to pull his shirt on and looked at me confused. Am I crazy? Maybe. If he's this strong as he claimed to be, I want find out myself. It's not everyday that a teen around your age can carry you on his back and be this strong. Also I can sense a power in him. Like I did in Jay and Kai. Like the power of Spinjitzu in them. "Wait seriously, you want to wrestle with me?" he laughed like it was a joke. "You still don't look that well to move around anyway."

"Hey I may not look that well." I scoffed at him. "But I know that I'm strong to support myself. I've been through worse before and got right back to my feet. C'mon twinkle toes, what do you say?"

Cole looked at me with his bushy eyebrows furrowed at me and smirked at me. I think I convinced him. "You got yourself a challenge now." he says and tossed his shirt aside and walked to a grassy clearing near his camp and waited for me.

I smirked at him as I have my challenge and stood up. I removed his tee shirt and tossed it next to his and stood across from him. I can see his muscles rippling on his tan skin as he wasn't flexing at all. I did a small compassion against his thick muscles to my lean muscles and saw that we may be evenly matched. He was much larger than Kai, but I may be able to still pin him like I do when my uncle and I do this for training in the Underworld. I was ready. "Ready Cole?" I asked him.

"You sure about this, Luke?" he asked, questionablly. "I'm worried that I'll hurt you since you were out cold for a couple hours."

"I'll be fine." I answered him. I grabbed some rocky dirt and rubbed the dust into my hands to make sure I won't lose my grip on him. I do the same method with chalk in the Underworld to make sure I don't lose my grip with Garmadon. "I've been through worse before and never back down. I'm ready when you are."

Cole smiled at my enthusism and nodded. He grabbed a small handful of rocky dusty earth and rubbed it into his rough hands to make sure he doesn't lose his grip on me and squatted down with his hands out. Like he was about to lunge at me. I smiled and got into the same position as his with renewed energy. This is what I needed. "I'll make the first move then." he insisted and began to move closer to me.

I smirked and slowly moved closer to him in small hops. When we were face to face, not one was making a move. All was quiet. It was me with lean muscles against his thick muscles. His strength may give him an advantage to throw me over and pin me in seconds. But I have speed and stealth to maneuver him and could easily go for his legs to knock him down. I think I got a strategy here. But what does he have?

Cole lunged towards me and grabbed my right leg. I was surprised by his speed and felt weightless as he pulled to make me become unbalanced to hit my back to the ground. I sucked in a breath as the oxygen escaped my lungs and quickly breathed back the air into my lungs and tried to get up. But after Cole pulled my leg to knock me down, he sat on my chest and used his legs to pin my arms to my sides. I struggled to squirm my arms free, but Cole used his knees to squeeze my biceps still with his shins pinning my forearms still too. I gave up on struggling and looked at Cole, smirking with his arms crossed. He won. This round though. "So what happened to not looking well and strong to support yourself?" he asked, cocky and mockingly.

I gave him a huff with a smirk. "Don't get too cocky." I pointed out to him. I tried to squirm out and sighed as I couldn't. "You caught me by surprised. How about a rematch?"

Cole smiled and got off of me and pulled me to my feet. "You got youself a rematch, friend." he replied and stood in his spot and squatted down.

I smiled back and nodded. "Friends." I agreed and squatted down.

We both eyed at each other as we slowly advanced to each other and waited in a tight circle. Not one making a move. Cole kept taking a step to make me flinch so I would be distracted for him to pin me. But I would quickly dodge him so I can pin him this time. I sent him some of my own taunts but he would not flinch. He was still as a...rock. Strong as a rock. Not to mention heavy as one too. And again I can feel and sense the same power that I could feel in Jay, Kai, my uncle, and my father. The Spinjitzu presense. Could he be a Spinjitzu Master too? I must be going crazy because I don't think so. It's probably a theory. Anyway, back to the match.

Time was as if still as neither one of us wanted to make a move to pin one another. Cole kept taunting me with his steps to make me flinch. But I wouldn't back down to his tactics. I even still sent my taunts at him and he still wouldn't flinch. This one was tough. But I don't care. He's a worthy friend to have a match with. May have pin you in the first round, but I'll beat him this time. How hard can it be?

I quickly took a step to Cole's left flank and juked to the right and went for a leg. But I didn't expect him to dodge the lunge and wrapped an arm around my chest. I didn't know what he was planning next, but I knew I was in trouble. I felt his right leg loop the back of mine and instantly knew what was happening next. Another strike for my legs. With a grunt, Cole pushed on my chest while tripping my legs with his and I felt weightless and felt the ground hit my back. As I groaned, I came to an idea and closed my eyes.

Cole quickly got off of me and shook my shoulders. "Luke, you alright?" he asked worriedly and kept shaking my shoulders. "Oh man." and gently grabbed my arms to pull me up.

*****Before my back left the grassy patch, my eyes shot open and I instantly wrapped my legs around his and locked my ankles together. I gave them a twist and heard him shout a surprise and watched Cole land on his back. The tables turned now. I quickly unlooped my legs and we both were on our knees. We both grabbed each other shoulders and I quickly twisted him and pushed him back onto the ground. I quickly laid on my back and grabbed his right arm and placed it between my legs and laid my legs on his chest. I may have fazed Cole on the surprise, but he began to struggle to free his arm while I pulled it closer to my chest. And if I could, I could raise my hips up to deliver pain to his elbow to make him give up. A lesson I learned from my uncle once. But I have this match now.

Suddenly I felt Cole's arm moving away from my chest and broke free from my grasp. I was so close. Cole moved my legs away and lunged at me. We both tussle on the ground to pin the other and neither one would back down. I would flip Cole over my shoulders, but he would recover and go for my legs to be at his level. As I quickly recovered, I felt a strong, beefy arm loop around my throat and the other arm at the back of my head and saw his hand grip his arm and my back pressed against his chest. A headlock. One that can put one to sleep. I began to struggle to break free and gasp as he tightened his grip around my Adam's Apple. "You would know what happens if I tighten my grip while you struggle, wouldn't you?" he asked. I quickly nodded in reply. "The more you struggle, the quicker the job would be." and began to slowly tighten his arm while pushing my head. "Say uncle."

I gasped as I began to struggle harder to escape his grasp, but knew he won this match. I began to make raspy noises as Cole continued to choke me out. I knew what he wanted from me and that was a tap out and a beg for mercy. I had my hands on his arms to pull away, but they would slip off as his arms were slick with sweat. It was no use. I was being choked by a...python or boa constrictor. I began to see stars flashing in my eyes and knew I was about to pass out. Without a choice, I tapped his arm on that he won. "Uncle!" I shouted to him for mercy and felt his arm loosen around my throat.

I fell to my hands and knees and threw a coughing fit just to breathe again. I know he didn't have the intention to kill me. It was only so he could put me down. Once I gained my breath back, I lifted my head to see Cole's hand out with a smile on his face; an offering of help. I smiled back and nodded and took it. "Let's say we call this even?" he asked and pulled me up. "You were close though on that sneak attack."

"Fine." I agreed to him. "I was close though. My dad once told me that it doesn't matter whether you're close or not. It only means you're getting stronger or better."

Cole and I headed back to the camp and sat by the fire. "Must've been helpful words that helped you?" he asked curiously and added a few sticks to the fire and stoked it.

I was quiet for a minute and sighed. "They are." I muttered quietly. Again I'm starting to go back to my memories like I did when I told Jay and Kai the same thing. The times I had with my father and making him proud. But the man lead me the other path and I ran away. I shook it out of my head and warmed myself to the fire and grabbed my own tee shirt from my bag and threw it on. "So is there any way down this mountain in the morning?" I asked him. "I still thank you for saving me and carrying me up here, but is there any way down?"

Cole stopped stoking the fire and looked at me with a cheeky smirk. "Well there are two options." he replied. "You can either climb down like I did and slip on a rock on the waterfall and land in the river to scare someone else and save them from drowning and take them to your camp and wrestle with them. Or you can use the path down to a snowy mountain base." and pointed at a trail.

A trail? Why wouldn't he taken that before? I stopped myself from asking as it was pointless and stupid as I see he went with option one as a challenge. "Thank you." I said to him.

As the night grew, the temperature felt warm and cold, but our fire kept us warm and the bugs away. Cole has told me of interesting tales of his adventures. He doesn't climb with any equipment. Only his body and hands. I find it interesting that he goes beyond the limits and risks his life to climb these dangerous mountains. After sharing our stories, mine of what I done with Kai and Jay, but never mentioned my fights with them, we laid under the stars as it was amazing. The constellations were amazing under the moonlight. I should do this more often.

...

Morning came and all of my belongings were packed. As well were Cole's. After a petty breakfast of Cole's leftover soup, he was ready for his climb up and I was ready for my climb down. Not actually, but taking the path down. I again thanked Cole for rescuing me, reviving me, and even our match. And he simply nodded and shook my hand for good luck for my venture down. And I wished him luck too for his climbs. With our good-byes out of the way, we went our separate ways. His to the top, mine to the bottom of a snowy mountain base as he told me about it. Who knows what could happen for me.

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**Hoped you liked the chapter and soundtrack. I like it how when I write these stories and a good soundtrack I listened to pops in to help the mood of the story. Anyway I hoped you enjoy and see you next week when it's Zane's and my sister's Kaitoukiwi's OC, Laurie's, turn. Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week. :)**


	18. Zane Julien and Laurie Garmadon

**Hey everyone, happy Friday and time for another soundtrack. So now it's Zane's turn with someone included. OC belongs to Kaitoukiwi and I thank you for letting use her for my story. And I have a soundtrack to include for this chapter. Type up the link, watch?v=aJTbRTa2pms and at 2:00 hit play when you see the link and enjoy.**

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**Chapter 17: Zane Julien and Laurie Garmadon**

I probably should have taken my chances with climbing down the mountain because it was below freezing. I followed down the trail as Cole said so and warned about the snowy area. I'm starting to regret my choice. I'm trekking through shin-deep snow and could feel the melted snow seeping through my pants and socks and my feet were starting to grow numb. I had my sweatshirt zipped all the way up with a grey blanket I packed tucked inside my sweatshirt to keep myself warm, but I was still freezing. Reminds me when I ran away in March and it was still cold in the forest, but this was worse.

As I trekked through the thick snow, the wind was blowing in my face with tiny bits of shards scraping my face. I was shaking like a leaf as I hugged myself tighter. Not even my gloves from my suit provided the necessary warmth I wanted for my hands. It only provided little. I spotted a pond ahead and felt relieved. My water bottle that Cole gave since it was a spare that I now packed was low as I trekked down the slope and was relieved to see water. Snow would be helpful to have water but with it melting in your mouth will make your teeth sensitive. But as I came to the pond, I got to my knees and felt a sudden chill to the bones and quickly fished my water bottle out and removed my hood. I twisted the cap off and held out my left hand to bring up a small orb of liquid from the icy pond and filled it into my water bottle, twisted the cap back on, and stuffed it into my sweatshirt and the blanket. My body heat should heat it up so I can have a hot water bottle until I reach the end of the snow-covered forest.

_Snap!_

I quickly snapped my head around to the sound and spotted nothing. "Hello?" I asked. Nothing. I shrugged my shoulders as it was probably an animal walking by and turned my head back to the pond. I held out my hands to bring up more of the water and brought it to my lips to drink. As I drank, I peeked an eye to stare at the fish that could survive the enviroment and followed a fish with my eyes and to choke in surprise as it passed a...person! After I coughed the water out to breathe, I peered closely as it was a person in the bottom. A teen around mine and Cole's age with bleach white hair with his eyes closed and wore a white sweater with a black vest over it. Was he even alive? He was sitting at the bottom of this pond, cross-legged with his hands together and he definitely wasn't murder as there's no marks of assult or chains to drown him. How would I know was because I read many crime mystery novels. To be sure he was alive in anyway, I held my hand at the water and gave it a push.

I watched the liquid move through the water. It was like an air bubble moving through the water and brushed past the teen's face. I saw movement and his eyes opened to reveal deep blue eyes and looked up at me. I was amazed. He was alive. How can he hold his breath this long? I can do it for five minutes when I'm surrounded with bubble of air when I dive underwater. But still how? I slowly waved a hello to him and noticed his eyes were squinting and then grew wide while pointing at me. I was confused. What was he pointing at? It wasn't at me though.

Suddenly I felt something grab my backpack and over my mouth. I couldn't scream as it was a hand over my mouth and tried to shake my attacker off, but couldn't free myself. I felt something on my lips break and had a funny taste entering my mouth and started to feel drowsy. I felt fumes enter my nose and my eyes suddenly felt heavier. The hand was removed from my mouth and I collapsed to the snowy ground. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but whatever I inhaled made me more sleepy. My vision was a blur and all I could see were three people dressed in black with armored breastplates and vambraces and masks over their faces. And they looked like ninjas. Were they? One dove into the pond while the other hovered me and draped a black cloth bag over my head and I passed out.

...

I slowly opened my eyes and groaned to wake up. Who were they? And what was that stuff they used on me? I opened my eyes and no longer found myself in the forest, but more of a monastery on a cot. Paper walls and windows, wooden floors, slanted opened ceiling that could be lead to other rooms if you climbed on them and hop over them. I did that once or twice at the dojo before I ran away. Wait a minute. Oh God! I better have not been kidnapped by my father's request. He must've found out I was still alive. But if he wanted me back, I should've been in my old room. Not this room. But I wasn't. I was in a room with rows of empty cots lit by candles with a wood burning stove in the corner by me. If I'm not at the dojo, then where am I? And why me?

"Thank goodness you're awake." a calm and steady voice said. "I was worried for you."

I cocked my head to the left and saw the same teen from the pond next to me on his cot. He was taken too? He was in the same position from when I found him with his blue eyes opened wide with worry. So he was kidnapped too. I groaned as I prompted myself up with my elbows and held my head while chains were rattled. I directed my head to the source and saw my left wrist cuffed to the cot. "What the?" I said confused. I looked back at the teen next to me as he was cuffed to his cot too. What was going on here? "How long was I out for?" I asked him.

The teen turned his head away to close his eyes to meditate. "Five hours and twenty two minutes." he replied calmly.

Wow. Was he counting the minutes? That's amazing. I don't see a clock anywhere so he must be counting down then. Kinda cool actually. And maybe a little bit creepy. "That's amazing." I complimented him. "Who are you?"

The teen looked at me with a small smile. "Hello, my name is Zane." he introduced himself and held his right hand out to shake.

I took my right hand, which I was glad wasn't cuffed, and shook his. "Luke." I introduced myself. Zane smiled and went back to meditate. I carefully sat up as my muscles felt tight with the chain rattling in my movement. Bones popped into place as I stretched my arms, but couldn't stretch much with my left wrist chained up without much slack. Why are we even chained up from...ninjas? Are they even ninjas or not? "What happened?" I asked Zane. "Who are they?"

Zane shrugged his shoulders and before he could reply, the door opened and we both turned directly to our kidnapper. A woman with dark brown hair that touched past her shoulders while a hairband rested on top of her head with rich deep green eyes. She wore a tight leather jacket that reached down to her exposed naval with the shoulders draped over in pads for movement, like armor almost. With vambraces over her forearms with gloves and had tight black pants on with heels that climbed up to her shins. She even had a sword that was unlike a katana. It wasn't in a sheath and only hung on her hip and it was expertly crafted that looked like it wasn't from Kai's father. My first thought was that this better not ne what I think it was, but she had the armor ninja behind her as guards. So what was it then? "Who are you, miss?" Zane asked in his soft gentle tone. Does he have any emotions? I'm a little scared and he's all calm about this.

The woman walked up to us with a key to uncuff us. I rubbed my wrist as it felt raw and was red and watched her uncuff Zane. With both of us free, the woman walked back to the door and turned to us. "I do apologize about our first apperance in the forest." she apologized with a gentle almost Romanian accent. Zane and I looked at each other then back at her. "I am Talia." she introduced herself while having her right fist over her chest. "Leader of the liberation army known as the Assassins of the Night. Our goal is to liberate the evil in these lands and rise up as one."

The Assassins of the Night? Never heard of them. Liberate the evil from the lands? That's the Green Ninja's job, not theirs. There's got to be more than this. "So why us?" I scowled. "Why kidnap us and bring us to the..."

"The mountains." Talia finished for me. She turned away and the two guards move aside. "Come, I'll explain." and left. Her heels clicking on the wooden floor. Zane and I looked at each other and slowly climbed out of the cots and followed her out with the guards behind us. Outside the room, Zane and I were baffled to the open space below us. It was a training facility for more of these...ninjas. Wing-chuns on one side, sparring, weapons training, in the center was a bridge that intersected to the parts of the dojo and off to the side of the bridges were wooden pegs that my father and uncle use on me for balance while sparring. This place was much larger than my old home from the inside. What was this place? "As you can see here," Talia continued. "we train ourselves under the Arts of Ninjutzu." Ninjutzu. Please. I train under Spinjitzu. Higher class to those that can perform Spinjitzu. "We train and liberate those that sin and are evil. Our ways of fighting make us the assassins we are. Silent and deadly. Henceforth, the Assassins of the Night."

Intrigued. Both Zane and I were. We both had the same look on our faces. But the question was: Why us still? "So why us?" I asked again. "Why take us still?"

Talia turned to us with her arms crossed. "We believe you two can be of aid to us." she replied. "I can sense great power in you two. As well in my newest recruit. She has the same presense as you both do."

So she's asking me what I think she's asking. She's asking me and Zane to join her forces to fight. But I meant this guy for like a couple minutes ago and think he's a fighter. But he looks like a calm person who doesn't fight. And I too sense the same presense in him like Cole, Kai, and Jay as she says so. Plus I'm Lord Garmadon's apprentice. So I can't join them. I'm not a killer. "Who is this recruit of yours?" Zane asked. "May we see her?"

"Of course." Talia answered and began to walk down the stairs. "Follow me." We both followed behind her and reached the main floor. It was starting to get warm and I unzipped my sweatshirt and tied the sleeves around my waist. Wait a minute. Where's my backpack!? My sai's are gone! Before I could ask her, Talia lead us to an area and didn't turn as she spoke. "For years, we've been liberating the lands from sinners like a clean slate." she clarified. "But as the years grew, sin has been growing and spreading in the lands. My father created this years ago to help stop the spread with our agility, strength, and stealth." She clapped her hands and two black bags hanging on the ceiling moved to show two more assassins. Zane and I stepped back in surprised and saw two more behind us. Wow they're good. "When my father passed away, I became the leader and been helping the world to keep it clean. Come, she's over here."

We followed Talia to the center and on the bridge. On the pegs was a teen girl with pale skin covered by a orange tank top and black pants like Talia's. Hair was a fiery red that was in a ponytail that could reach past her shoulders. And her eyes were a pale ice blue, almost grey color. I watched her hold her bo staff with both hands and watched her steps onto each pole as she was surrounded by two other assassins with staffs too. The first guy swung his staff at her feet and the red head swung her hers down to block it and immediately ducked as the female assassin swung hers at her head. The red head then swung her staff behind her back like a helicopter rotor and back in front of her and sent attacks of her own. Wood clattered as the three were in close combat to knock one down to the rock layered floor below us. She jumped and performed a backflip and landed on another peg in front of me and held her staff vertical above her head to block the others. She's a skilled fight for sure and I can sense the power in her like the others I met. Who is this recruit? "Who is she?" I asked.

Talia smirked with her arms crossed. "Her name is Laurie." she answered. I looked at Laurie as she quickly moved her staff down to push against the assassins for breathing room. Why was she even here? "We found her wondering on her own in search for her father for revenge." said Talia. "Her father left her, her mother, and brother when she was young and ran away when she turned fifteen. She won't tell us who her father was and wanted to destroy him." She's not the only one. But she has father issues. "We took her under our wing to train her to become an assassin so she can fulfill her vengence." I watched her block the female's staff over her head while the male went for a sweep of her legs to knock her down. And in a fast reaction, Laurie had her staff under her hand while catching the top of one of the pegs while her other hand caught another one with her feet together on her previous one. It looked like she was in a push-up position. But it was to keep herself up. "A little slow at first." Talia finished. "But she manages. Come, there's more to show you." and lead the way.

I stayed for awhile and caught Laurie glancing at me. "What are you staring at?" she asked in sour tone.

I'm the one staring at her? Clearly she's the one staring at me and I stare at her back. What's her problem? "Nothing." I replied. "Here a helpful tip. It doesn't matter if you're getting close or not. It only means you're getting stronger. That should be helpful so you don't slip again." I said while crossing my arms at her.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind when I don't need it." she said sarcastically and used her arms to push herself back up to fight. I still had my arms crossed while giving her a sneer look. We just got off on the wrong foot.

"I thought it was helpful advice." Zane spoke up.

I turned my head to him to give him a small smile. "Thanks." I said. "My father said it to me whenever I struggle with something and find it helpful. Thought that I should spread the word."

Zane raise an eyebrow in confusion. "How do you spread a word when it's written and can't move?" he asked. "Unless it was sent in the mail then."

Was he serious? He never heard this meaning. I was like making a joke. Does he even know the difference between that? "Not like that." I stated. "I mean that I want to tell others the meaning whenever they struggle too. Meaning that I spread the word to other by telling them." Zane seemed to understand and gave out a weird laugh. "Yeah and since my father taught me it, I tell others too."

A solemn look crossed Zane's face and he leaned his arms on the railing and his head drooped. "I never had a father or family." he said sadly. "I've been an orphan my entire life."

Crap. I just made him feel bad. But I never knew though. I just found him meditating in the bottom of a pond and meet him this monastery. "I'm sorry." I apologized.

"It's alright." he replied and rolled up his sleeves of his sweater. "You didn't know." I turned my gaze away from him to sigh. I knew I made him upset about the mention of a family. Kinda like when I ran away and made my father depressed. Everytime I use the Reflective Pool to spy on him, I see him alone in the dojo and in my old room. He must really miss me. Everytime I see him, he has the same look on his face as Zane does now. Depressed. Solemn. Sad. Heartbroken. And truth be told, it hurts me to see him like this. Oh God. What have I done?

"Come." I heard Talia's voice commanded to bring me back and Zane and I followed behind her. Talia lead us to what appeared to be a storage area of barrels, burlap sacks, and crates. The head assassin removed the lid of a barrel and pulled out two light reddish green apples. "You two boys look famished." she said and tossed them to us. "Have an apple." I caught the apple with both hands and looked at it weird. It's not often that someone kidnaps you and hands you an apple. Plus they're assassins. They could've poisoned it. Instead of eating it, I placed it on the table near my right, followed by Zane. He must've had the same idea too. "Impressive." Talia acknowledged. "You seen the apples were dangerous and set them aside. You see, this area is our supply for our missions. These apples aren't laced with poison for they grown poisonous and only found in the Misty Forest." The Misty Forest? Storm's old home. "We use the apples to kill our targets when necessary. But these leaves too originated from the same forest." She reached into a sack and pulled out to elm-shaped leaves that were large as a maple leaf. I seen those before. Three years ago when I first got Storm. What's so special about them? "What makes these leave unquie is that when you break the vein, the leaf release a natural gas that renders our targets unconscious. It's what we used on you two."

So they drugged us. Perfect. She handed them to us and I placed mine in my leather pouch while Zane placed his in his vest. "Not only we use the apples and leaves," she continued while reaching into a bowl of black power and took a pinch with her fingers. "We use smoke as our stealth." She threw the pinch by our feet and a small spark ignited and surrounded us in black smoke. Zane and I threw a coughing fit to the smoke and I waved my hand in front of my face to clear the smoke away and saw Talia smirking. "You look like you can use it the most." she said and handed me a small clear jar of the black powder. I looked at it cautiously and placed in my pouch. "You two," she pointed at the assassins behind us. "take our pond friend to the weapons area. I wish to talk to this one alone." she said while pointing at me.

I watched the two assassins nodding and escorted Zane to the weapons area. I turned my head back to Talia and was greeted with something thumping at my chest. I quickly realized it was my backpack and unzipped it to find everything still in there and drew my sai's out and zipped my bag closed and threw it over my shoulders. "I know who you are." she said coldy.

I placed the side guards through my belt loops and looked at her curiously. She doesn't me at all. But how does she then? "You do?" I asked her cautiously.

She slowly advanced towards with her left hand on the handle of her sword while I slowly backed away and bumped against the table and looked at her scared. She has me cornered. Was she gonna kill me? Or what? "You're the son of Wu." she replied coldy. "Grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master." Okay, how does she know me and my ancestry!? "You are Lucas Wu. The son that ran away when he was ten."

"How do you know me?" I asked her. I am panicking now. I have a stalker on me.

"We've been watching you." she said and begin to walk around me and the table in a circle. "We've seen you in the river using your powers. Seen you with the grey dragon of yours in the Misty Forest. We seen you in the village whenever the dark lord lets you reach the surface." Okay this was a major stalker now. "We also know you can feel the power of Spinjitzu in the other boy and the girl." she continued with her voice turning to ice and steel.

How does she know all of this!? "How?" I asked scared.

Talia grabbed the front of my shirt and lifted me off my feet. She's incredibly strong and giving me death glares. "Do not play with me, idiot!" she bellowed. "You know you can sense them. Each Spinjitzu Master can sense the power of Spinjitzu in them and you can sense them." She placed me down and back away slowly.

She knows I'm a ninja. A Spinjitzu Master. But was it true? I can sense other Spinjitzu Masters. I thought it over to gasp as it was true. I sensed the power in Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, and even Laurie. It was clear as Talia said. I can sense the other Spinjitzu Masters. The other four elemental ninjas and the Green Ninja. If my father found them and trained them while I'm under Garmadon, I'll be fighting my friends. I can't do that to them. They're my friends. Well not Zane or Laurie yet. But still though. When the ultimate plan for my uncle to escape the Underworld comes, I'll be hurting them. My friends.

Talia saw my face and turned away. "Raven, bring the prisoner forward." she commanded. I heard the sounds of someone pleading for mercy and saw an assassin that looked different than the others with someone that looked like a farmer from Ignacia Village. The assassin wore a tank top that climbed up to her neck with her back exposed while having matrix designed tattoos to cover her shoulders and gloves that ran past her elbows with throwing knives in her vambraces. Black pants like Talia's with heels that climbed up her shins with steel covering her shins to protect them. Unlike the others that wore a mask that covered their entire face, the one named Raven had a tight black mask that only covered her mouth and nose that tied in the back of her head with a katana sheathed behind her back. She must be a higher class of assassin. Raven kicked the prisoner in the back of his knees while his bounded hands caught the floor and she placed a hand on his back to push him in front of me. Talia drew her sword out and thrusted the hilt into my hands and I gripped the handle tightly. What was she doing? "Take my blade and kill him." she demanded. "Then you shall take my place as the leader of my army."

I was stunned. She wants me to execute this farmer. I can't take another person's life. "I am no executioner." I stated. "What are his crimes?"

"He was a farmer that stole land from his neighbors." she replied quickly. "He got greedy and nearly killed those for the land. He must be executed so that sin and corruption don't spread. This will be the first step for the assassins. Soon, with you taken my place, you will lead my army to Ninjago City and defeat the dark lord. Regardless of the dumb Green Ninja prophecy. Now do it and join us. It has and always been your destiny."

This was the reason why she attacked me and Zane. She wanted us to join them. Be an assassin with them. And she thinks I can be the new leader. No thanks. I prefer the life as a ninja. I need a way out of here with Zane and Laurie. They don't belong here too. I heard the sound of metal hissing and turned my gaze to a small fire of hot coals with a stoker red hot. I looked up to a balcony that was the second floor with the same bags of the black powder and came to an idea. If thrown on the ground, it'll create a small spark to develop smoke. What would happen if I caused a fire. I looked around as everyone's eyes were trained on me, including Zane and Laurie, and the farmer's eyes wide for mercy. I raised the blade by his neck, gripped the handle tightly, and held it by my face as I was about to deliver the kill. With a quick hand, I quickly swiped the sword under the stoker and swung the blade up with the stoker flying high and landing on the sacks. The heat of the stoker caught the fabric on fire and quickly spread.

Talia saw what was happening and growled. "What are you doing!?" she bellowed.

"Keeping a prophecy alive." I stated and sliced the farmer's hands free and tossed the blade aside. There was an explosion and was thrown off my feet. I landed on my back with Talia by my feet and saw the fire spreading rapidly. I can feel the heat of a fire near the left side of my face and shoulder. My shoulder? I quickly realized my shirt was on fire and quickly patted it out. I moved my collar aside to see the skin damage and sighed in relief as there was no burns on my tan skin. I slowly got to my feet and saw the fire spreading rapidly and the assassins fleeing to find away to stop the blaze.

Talia got to her feet and noticed the fire spreading and glared at me. I couldn't help but chuckle with a smirk at her soot and ashed covered face. "Laurie, attack him and capture him!" she commanded. "Everyone else, stop the spread!" and kicked me in the chest.

A groan escaped my lips and quickly recovered to find myself on the bridge. I heard a battle cry and turned to see Laurie leaping over me and landed in front of me. She gripped her staff tightly and glared at me. Her fiery hair stood greatly to the natural fire behind her. As if it was one fire. There was another explosion and it shook us to our knees. I quickly found Zane shouting out order of evacuations to escape the monastery. I can understand as the fire was spreading, but I need to get her out of her. Screw this fight right now.

Laurie swung her bo staff at me and made contact to my face. I quickly tasted copper in my mouth with my cheek swelling in pain and cleaned the blood off my lips. Okay I know what I just said, screw that. I don't care what I said, she started it. And I'm gonna finish it. Time to show her my bad side. I drew out my sai's and took a stance while she followed. "You think you can win?" she asked coldly.

*****"I don't have to think." I replied. "I know I will." and charged at her while she too charged at me and jumped with her staff held vertical to strike me. I quickly crossed my sai's to defend myself right as her staff struck and I pushed her back. She took the momentum to perform a backflip and landed in a crouch with her wooden staff held behind her and strands of her hair in her face. I continued to charge at her and she swung her staff at my head and spun her body back to attack me more. I gotta say she was incredibly skilled with the bo staff. I, however, am skilled with the sai's.

Wood clattered as my sai's blocked her staff as we fought. The bridge was narrow as it provided no help or space for me. Another small explosion happened and sparks of embers flew across from us to spread the fire. The heat was increasing and the smoke was starting to get thick. I blocked Laurie's attack and was pushed against the railing of the bridge. In a quick reaction, I kicked Laurie in the chest to push her back and she broke through the railing. As she fell back, she struck her staff between two pegs with great force and with the momentum, she swung on her staff like she was an acrobatic to swing up and released her grip to deliver a kick to my face with her flat leather slippers to push me back. I quickly came over the stun and found my sai's out of my grasp and in hers. I'm gonna need to get those back too. I drew my golden sai's from my backpack and stood in a attack stance while she did the same. She has no advantage in these weapons like I do. I smirked at her and taunted her with two fingers to attack me. She growled and charged at me.

"Stop him!" I heard Talia shout.

Metal clanked as we both fought against each other with the sai's while sending attacks with our fists and kicks like ninjas. Whenever I parried an attack from Laurie, she would tend to swing her leg at me. Not only she was skilled with a bo staff, but the sai's too. As we fought against each others on the narrow bridge to the center, I looked over my shoulders to see more assassins filing behind me and knew they were going to kill me. "Luke, look out!" I heard Zane shout out and saw four shurikens slicing past me and watched them struck the shoulders of the assassins. They cried out in pain and fell to the floor.

I quickly turned to see Zane at the weapons area with shurikens in his hands. He's definitely a ninja. I can see him now. Oh the future now. I heard the sound of wood groaning and looked up to see a beam burning above him and saw it was weaking by the second. I gasped as it was about to collapse on him. "Zane, look out!" I warned him. The beam gave way and Zane was late to dodge it. I heard him cry out and saw the beam on him and he wasn't moving. "Zane!" I screamed to him.

"Oh so sad that your bodyguard is dead." Laurie sneered.

I turned to her to growl through my teeth. He wasn't my bodyguard. But a person I was going to ask as my friend. No matter of the future. I shouted at her as I blocked and parried her attacks. With the red head stunned by my anger, I locked our sai's together and threw my forehead at hers and unlocked our sai's for her stumble back. Her look was surprised and she quickly recovered and swung her right leg at me. I caught it with my arm and clamped it to my side and threw my head at hers again and released her leg for her stumble back and fall. She brought her knees to her chest and used her arms to launch herself back up to her feet and ran towards me. It's now or never. "Ninja-Go!" I shouted and created my Spinjitzu tornado and kicked her to launch her back to drop my sai's and hit a beam to render her unconscious. I stopped spinning to be dressed in my gi and pants and had my mask acting as a filter to the smoke and grabbed my stolen sai's and threw them in my backpack and ran to Zane.

There was another explosion to shake me to my knees and quickly recovered to reach Zane. Talia and the others evacuated as the fire was increasing; leaving us to die. I reached Zane and sprayed mist from my palms to extinguish the burning beam on him and felt adrenaline course my veins as I lifted it off of him. "Zane!? Zane!?" I asked for a response while shaking his shoulders. I heard a groan escape from his lips and smiled as there was still life in him. I slipped my golden sai's in my belt and threw his right arm over my neck and brought him to his feet and moved him out of the way before another beam fell on us. "Come on." I prompted to him. "Let's get Laurie and us out of here."

I dragged Zane to Laurie and had a hard time as the place was starting to fall apart. Embers of fire were spurlting in the air. Smoke was burning my throat and stinging my eyes to have tears escape to blind me. Beams were burnt to ashes as the fire I caused was growing rapidly. I better not get charged for arsonry for this. My suit has even recieved burnt marks and didn't care as it was fire resistant. When we reached Laurie, I threw her left arm over me neck and wrapped my arms around their sides and pulled her to her feet and dragged them both away. There was another explosion behind me and saw the smoke channeling in instead of out and knew what was about to happen and started running and broke through a paper window and we fell with an explosion above us as we fell.

I saved us on time.

I rolled on the shallow snow after we fell about twenty feet. The sun shined directly in my face and fresh air filled my lungs as a groan escaped my lips. I lifted my head to see Zane and Laurie were out of my grasps and saw their unconscious bodies sliding down on the icy surface. My blood turned to ice as they were heading for a cliff. Quicking gaining my balance, I launched myself to the smooth surface to slide like I was a penguin. When I reached Zane, I quickly drew out a sai and struck it into the sleeve of his sweater and ice and watched it tug as I slid past him to see him stop. One down. One to go. Laurie's body was starting to gain speed and closer to the cliffedge and felt my heart skip a few rhythmatic beats as it was almost her doom. I used my feet to kick faster and finally reached her and grabbed her left hand with my right and we both were heading for the cliff. Without hesistation, I drew out my sai, flipped my body to be on my back, and struck the blade into the ice and felt it tug on something.

I screamed in pain as we finally stopped with my body at the ledge while Laurie was dangling to life and death. My arms felt like they were ripped out of their sockets, but kept my grip on my sai and her. I felt adrenaline course my veins and slowly twisted my body away while grunting as I pulled the limp girl up. Once I felt her body against mine, I continued to pull her up and laid her next to me; away from the cliff. I removed my mask to breathe heavily to the cold air and watched the destruction I caused to the large dojo erupt as the fire spread. I lifted my head to see Zane's eyes open as slits with a small smile. "Thank you." he said quietly and passed out.

...

I have been traveling down the mountain slope for hours now. Both Zane and Laurie haven't woken up after we escaped as they laid on the homemade gurney I made from the now ruins of the monastery while I pulled it behind me with my blanket over their bodies. The trek down was a bit dangerous for the three of us as they tend to slip off and I had to quickly place them back on. I was relieved as I came to a small village in the mountains near a forest, not Jamanakai Village, and was escorted to the shaman as he took Zane and Laurie in. As I waited, I began to think of the future. Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, and Laurie. The other elemental ninjas. And one of them has to be the Green Ninja. I'll have to face the facts that in the future I'll be facing them as the apprentice of Lord Garmadon. I wish I can make it all go away.

My ears perked up at the sound of feet shuffling and turned to the elderly man as he stood by the door. "They will be safe." he prompted and disappeared back. I quickly sat up from my chair and followed after him. I saw him tending to Zane's burns as he and Laurie laid on the cots and were still unconscious. My heart ached to see them like this. But was relieved as they were safe. "Thank you for finding Zane." the shamen said. "We've been searching for him."

They know him? "You know him?" I inquired.

"Yes." he answered. "You see, we adopted Zane. The entire village did. He was wondering around alone with no memory other than knowing his name. So we brought him in and took care of him. But we have no idea who this girl is." he sighed. "Sadly, they won't remember you or what happened." What? "They both recieved a blow to the head to forget what happened to them. Zane woke up and thought it was morning. The girl, however, thinks it's May and she's looking for her father."

I was stunned. I blame myself for this. I inflicted pain on Laurie to stop the fight and caused the fire to harm Zane. Now they won't remember me or each other or the Assassins of the Night. That should be a good thing though. Just wish there was a way for me to forget them too. All of them. "I see." I murmured.

The shaman looked at me with a concern look. "I sense something is troubling you." he said.

I sighed. There was. "There is." I said while sitting on a chair against the wall. "I too wish to forget what happened. What I saw. What I did. And who I met." I looked at the elderly man. "Is there anything that will...make me forget the events."

The elder's head snapped up and looked at me with a raised grey eyebrow. "There is." he replied. "But why would you request for such a powerful thing?"

So there was a way. I sighed though. "Because...because I fear that in the future, I may hurt those that I met." I replied and walked up to him and stare at his sunken dark eyes. "Please. If you have anything to help, I need it."

The elder looked into my pleading hazel grey eyes and nodded. He walked over to a shelf and picked up a ming vase and removed the ceramic lip to reveal white powder. He sighed and took a handful and walked back to me. "This will help you forget the names and events that have happened." he said lowly. "But you won't forget on what happened to you or what you may gained in the events. Maybe except the fire, but nothing else. Just say the names of those you wish to forget. Remember, there's no turning back."

I nodded and looked at Laurie. "Wait." I stopped him. "Make sure she's somewhere far from this area and I request to wake up in the Forest of Tranquility." The elder nodded. I walked over to Zane and removed the leaf from his vest and placed it in my pouch and stood in the center of the room. I drew a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Kai. Nya. Jay. Cole. Zane. Laurie." I felt something hit my face and I breathed in the powder deeply. I struggled to open my eyes and had them as slits and everything was cloudy. I started to feel unbalanced and weak and my legs collapsed and I saw darkness.

...

"Lucas!" a familiar voice shouted. "Wake up!"

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in a forest with the sun setting. Where am I? I slowly sat up with my back popping in the process. I felt something heavy on my lap and realized it was my backpack and my golden sai's were in there with normal ones. Where did these come from? I felt something heavy in my pouch and reached into to pull out the item and saw it was the glass jar of black powder to create smoke and the leaves that render people unconscious. I remember where I got them, but what happened? I noticed I was dressed in my suit and noticed it had burn marks and I don't remember where I got them. Was I in a fire to save someone or something?

"Lucas!" Garmadon shouted. I turned to my head to stare at his shadow. His red eyes were burning through me as he was angry at me. For what? "Where have you been!?"

That's the thing though. Where have I been? I have no memory. I looked at him a confused and worried look. "I...I...I don't remember..."

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**Well we now know why Lucas doesn't remember them in the future. Again thank you Kaitoukiwi for letting me use Laurie in my story for this to happen. I hoped you all enjoyed the review and soundtrack I have chosen to go along. Find out next week what happens now that Lucas doesn't remember the others. Plus I'm back in school now, SENIOR YEAR! WHOA! so my updates may or not be late depends on what happens throughout the week. Anyway, again I hoped you enjoy the chapter and see you next week. Have a wonderful weekend. :) **


	19. Things to Tell and Things to Not Tell

**Happy Friday everyone, time for an update. This time again now it's Lucas in the present with the other ninja. So this may be a spoiler alert to those that are reading Kaitoukiwi's series. If you're reading them, you might want to wait until her third story is done, if not you can continue reading this. That's all I have to say. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 18: Things to Tell and Things to Not Tell**

"You did what!?" Kai, Jay, and Cole shouted while jumping to their feet.

I looked at my brothers as I understood their outburst. What I done to myself in the past to forget them. But how do I remembered though was that when I was forced to drink Remembrance Tea, my memories came back. But when I said that saying that my father told me to the others, I began to have some guilt swell up and realized what I done. But the main reason why I forgot them was to protect them. Not in selfishness, but for protection. I sighed. "Yes." I replied quietly. "I erased my memories with you guys."

"Brother, why would you do such a thing?" Zane asked while kneeling next to me and place a hand on my shoulder. "Forgetting the memories you had with your elemental brethern and not join us instead of Garmadon?"

I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and sighed. "I did it for protection." I replied. "For all of you."

They all looked at me confused. Including Lloyd. "I don't get it." said Jay, confused.

Figures. They all wouldn't get it. "You see I knew all of you would be the other elemental ninjas." I explained. "Each Spinjitzu Master can sense other Spinjitzu Masters based from the power in their heart. Once I knew that you were the other ninjas, I didn't want to hurt my friends as Garmadon's apprentice. So I made the sacrifice to forget who you were so that I didn't act weak in front of my uncle. It was also so that my uncle doesn't make me kill you." I averted my gaze to my feet. "That's how."

They all looked at each other and slowly nodded as they understood. I'm glad I made the sacrifice to forget them. But glad they remembered me if my appearnce was different. It didn't matter though as my brothers and cousins were safe before anything happened to them. "Hold on." Lloyd spoke up. "If you forgot who they were because you wanted to, then how do you remember them and my sister?"

I looked at my little cousin as he gave me a slight glare with his arms crossed. Why should he be mad at me? All I did was to protect them. I noticed that the others were staring at me to know how. I sighed. "You see Lloyd, Remembrance Tea is very powerful stuff." I stated. "I may have forgotten who they were, but they weren't erased. They were locked deeply in my subconscious mind and they couldn't break free. But when we fought in the Underworld, I was forced to drink and everything broke free. I remembered who I was when I was with my dad when he started training me. How I hurt him in the past when I saw his memories. And when I said that saying to all of you, I realized what I done to him. But when I forgot about you all, it was like it never happened. That's how I remember. That tea is very powerful to consume if you wish to remember something."

Lloyd's eyebrows were rising up as he understood and nodded. I smiled as he understood and looked at the others as they kept turning to each other to see if they understood. It seems like they all do now. Cole leaned his arms on the back of the couch. "I just realized something, Lucas." he said. What? "When your friend Kuzca gave you your pouch with the coins, if they were valuable when he had them, why couldn't we turn them into the museum for display? We could've gotten a good deal with them to find a decent place to stay when we didn't have the Bounty." My head snapped up and I glared at him. "What?" he asked. "Was it something I said?"

Jerk! How could he say that? "Yes I could've used those coins to turn them in the museum because they're old as my friend were." I spat out. "But those coins are valuable to me. I may have used some of the coins for personal things like clothes and hygiene products, but I still have some leftover because they remind me of Kuzca. That's why I still have them and not on display."

They all fell silent to my outburst. What? They lead me to it. Mostly Cole. How could he say that though? I used those coins so I can survive in the Underworld, but now keep them in display in my pouch and heart. I caught Kai's brows furrowing. "Hold on." he stopped me. "Were? Reminds? Is there something you haven't told us, Lucas?"

I froze. They had me cornered now. There's got to be a way out of this. "Uh...Lloyd, it's bedtime now." I said quickly. He looked at me and nodded and climbed off my lap and left the room. I felt my bones popping into place as I slowly stood up and felt a tingling feeling in my legs as the blood flowed back into them for the small lack of circulation and quickly left them with my plastic mug in hand. I quickly tranversed down the hall and turned a corner to sigh. That was too close. I looked over the corner to see if I was followed, which no-one did, and went to my room where I shared with my brothers and Lloyd. As I entered our room, I found Lloyd walking out of the bathroom, assuming he brushed his teeth, and climbed into the bottom bunk of our bunk bed. "Ready Lloyd?" I asked him.

He smiled. "Ready Lucas." he said and threw the comforter over him.

I smiled and walked over to my dresser and pulled a drawer open. I reached in to pull out my flute. The same one I had for ten years now that my mother gave me when I turned eight with the silver-chained charm braclet with a raindrop around the wooden body. I removed the braclet from my flute and clasped it around my right wrist. It slowly reminded me of my mother. Stella Wu. The mother that knew I'd be the NInja of Water. She even knew before I ran away and told my father the night I did and was suppose to tell me the next day. But I was gone. But I found my destiny as I trained under my uncle and became the ninja I am today. But I still miss her after I died and came back to life to become Lloyd's guardian. But I know she's still in mine and my father's heart. As her son.

I brought myself back and walked back to my bunk. I sat cross-legged on the floor and brought the mouthpiece to my lips. I caught Lloyd smiling as he laid down and I smiled back as I placed my fingers in the right notes. I've been gone for a long time now and I'm sure he missed me playing to him. Time for a trip down memory lane. I closed my eyes and began to play my favorite melody. My favorite one. The same one I always play to Lloyd whenever he woke up from a nightmare and I would take him to the deck so I can play for him. I guess it's a small tradition we do now. I peeked an eye to see Lloyd closing his eyes with a smile on his face and I stopped. For four months, I believe that Lloyd was scared and lonely without me. But he had his sister with him while I was gone, but he sees me as a big brother to him than a cousin as I protect him from Serpentine and the pirates. But now that I'm back, I can protect him still, train him, and even be there for him. It's good to be back home.

After I put my flute down, I saw that Lloyd had fallen asleep and I moved bits of his blonde hair out of his face and he didn't even move or startled. I smiled as he slept and walked back to my dresser to put my flute away and kept my braclet on and grabbed my towel and headed for the bathroom for a shower. After I wrentched the faucet to turn it on to the hot water, I removed my clothes and stepped in to feel a sudden warmth and quickly adjusted to the water. I sighed as it felt great. Most of my time in a coma was getting a sponge bath and I could feel the water being cold all the time. But now that I woken up, and winning the Bounty back, it feels great. I reached up to the shelf for my bodywash that looked like melted silver and smelled of mint and drilled it into my tan skin. I gasp to the sudden chill of the soap and was relieved as it passed. After I cleaned myself by rinsing the soap and washing my hair with the large bottle of shampoo we share, and sitting on the floor to be like I was meditating for awhile, I turned the water off and stepped out to pick my towel up and pressed it into my face.

I began to rethink of what Cole said and I snapped at them. Why was that necessary to ask? They're my coins and I could do what I want with them. Kuzca even said so. He gave them to me for my birthday and I kept them ever since. I may have spent some for personal things, but still I have the rest with me. And I'll keep them forever. Sighing, I brought myself back and let gravity take my towel to the floor and held my hands in front of me. I felt the water that was dripping on my body being lifted off every inch from my body and hair into two orbs in my hands to become dry with my hair still clung together as it was wet and waved them into the shower drain and picked up my boxers and sweatpants and pulled them on. I picked up my tee shirt and before I pulled it on, I caught my reflection in the mirror in front of me and saw the small scar on top of my left shoulder and turned my back to look at the mirror with a slightly small frown.

The scars.

Before the Solstice Battle and Lloyd's birthday, I was Garmadon's...slave to look for the shards of an ancient mirror to unlock a gateway to the Dark Realm where my uncle wa able to grow his other arms. Even his four hidden ones on his chest where he's able to possess my sai's and Laurie golden staff. I still haven't told my cousins or brothers about that. But after I saved everyone from a hurricane and maelstrom my uncle created with my sai's, I was convicted of betrayal and was whipped. I was weak to heal myself and recieved these twelve scars. Even the scar on my lower left lung when I sacrificed my life to protect my father from a poisonous blade that was combined from the Serpentine's anti-venom of each tribe and the Great Devourer's venom. It had no cure. Not even my powers could heal against it. So in total I have thirteen on my back and the one on my left eyebrow from when I fought against my father in the Underworld. Just like the dream I had once. It's my destiny to have these scars to see my past and rethink of my mistakes I did. But with my scars on my back, I see them as lies from my uncle to make me weak. And everytime I look at them, I see them to make me stronger against my uncle. I am not weak. I am strong.

I turned my back away from the mirror to see my scar on my eyebrow and slipped my arms through the sleeves of my shirt to pull it on. I gasped and stopped as I felt an icy hand touching my back and tracing one of my scars. I gazed at the mirror to see red fiery hair and turned my head to see Laurie behind me. What does she want? "I never knew my father would do such a thing." she said quietly. How did she she managed to sneak up on me? "Even to his only nephew."

I sighed. "You're not the only one." I said and slipped my shirt on to hide the scars. "Never thought he would do it and I'm forever ridden with these scars." I picked my towel up and hung it on the hook where the others were to dry off. I sighed and gave her a small smile. "But there's an upside to them." She gave me a confused look while tucking strands of her hair behind her ear. "Everytime I look at them, I see how much I hate your father as much as you do. They make me stronger." and flicked the light off and left the bathroom with her behind me.

"If that's what you see, I see it too." my cousin agreed and knelt next to Lloyd to stroke her brother's hair. "I hate my father as much as you do too. He left me, my brother, and mother when I was young and hate him for that." I looked at the Ninja of Wind to sigh. I understand that when my uncle used the Reflective Pool when I trained under him, the three people were my cousins and aunt. I too wonder if they hate him. My aunt, I don't know. Laurie, yes. Lloyd, maybe scared to answer as his prophecy has to face him in the Final Battle. With our duty as the guardians to protect him till the end. I am ready. Till the end. I looked at my braclet and turned my head as I heard Laurie sigh. "I never knew you and I once met before." she said quietly and stood up to face me. "I never meant to harm you as you said I did. But I wish I would've remembered that. Do you forgive me?"

I stood in front of her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Well of course I forgive her. She's family. "You're alright." I told her. "You were training under them and had to fight me by orders. But I was glad to get you and Zane out of there before we perished in that monastery fire. You're my cousin, Laurie. I forgive you." and removed my hand. "Also the reason why Garmadon left you and Lloyd was because he was banished as he tried to steal the weapons and lost. That's why he was gone."

Laurie looked at me and nodded. "So did they come after you for revenge?" she asked. I shooked my head. When I was in the Underworld, the only way in was through the gates and they were sealed off from any spelunkers or archeologists. So there was no way they could get in. And before I fell to the coma, I've spent some free time on the watch to search in case they were hiding. But nothing. Laurie sighed again while tucking her hair again. "So you kind off stuttered to get out of the living room, right?" she inquired. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Crap. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

I sighed and leaned against the wall by mine and Lloyd's bunk. "There is though." I replied quickly. Almost distant like a whisper. I started to shake and my lips were quivering a little. I looked at my cousin to take a deep breath. "There are some things I would like to tell to everyone." Like my reason to run away, my training, Storm, and meeting the others before. "But there are some things that I don't wish to tell as they...bring pain to me." Like my mother's death and other things dear to me. "There are some things that are personal to me and wish not to tell. Can you understand that?" I asked her.

The Ninja of Wind looked at me and nodded. "Of course." she whispered to not disturb Lloyd. She walked up to me and pulled me into a hug. I was surprised by her embrace of affection. But why? She pulled away to give me a small smile. "I'm sorry." she apologized with slight hint of laughter. "Lloyd did the same thing to me when I asked him on how he healed himself and wouldn't tell me about you until we were on Ninjago City Tower. He just told me your name and not the rest until we visited you. He looked and sounded sad when he almost said your name and didn't want to talk about it. But Lucas, if there's something you don't want to tell us, let the others know instead of running off. I'm sure they'll understand and will respect your choice. But if it's something you want to tell us, then tell us instead of feeling trapped and escape from it. It's your choice and you can tell us about it. I'll let the others know what you don't want to tell them. Unless you want to do it."

I looked at her and nodded that I understood. "Tell the others that I don't want to tell it as it's personal to me." I told her. "Right now I'm tired and don't want to face them. I'll think about it if I want to tell them or not."

The orange ninja nodded. "Alright I'll let them know." she said and headed for the door and stopped at the doorway. "Goodnight Luke." she said with a sly smile and left.

I couldn't help but stifle a chuckle as she was using my alias name as a joke. I got nothing against it or anything. Luke was my hidden name so my identity would be hidden from the outside world of the Underworld. No-one knew that Lucas Wu existed on this earth until after seven years I finally encounter my father on the Bounty to kidnap Lloyd for my uncle. From then on, Lucas Wu existed. The son of Wu that ran away from rage blinding him. Now a ninja for his father and brothers and a guardian to protect his cousin.

I looked down at the Green Ninja as his silent snores kept me in peace as he was in peace. He shifted around to lie on his right shoulder, the very one where I struck my sai's into his shoulder and left a scar there. But my sai's never meant actual harm to him. They were meant to protect people, never to harm innocent lives. I brought myself back and smiled as I was happy to be with my cousin again. During my coma I couldn't do anything at all. I couldn't see. Talk. Move. All I could do was think. Talk to myself. I almost went crazy until I heard a familiar voice and woke up. And I was happy to the first person I saw with my own eyes. Lloyd. There's a thing between me and my cousin. Not that we're family or I'm his guardian. But there's a bond between us and it never can be severed now. And that would be the promise I made to him. The promise to never leave him so we can remain as family forever.

I brushed Lloyd's blonde hair out of his face to see a smile on his face and kissed the top of his head goodnight. "Goodnight Lloyd." I whispered. I heard him mumble something to me and knew he meant 'Goodnight Lucas' to me and I climbed up to my bed above his. As I laid on top of my comforter with my head resting on my pillow, I began thinking of my outburst as I couldn't sleep. I've been asleep for four months and I don't think I need it. Like a vampire. Not that Twilight crap, but regular vampires. It's my choice if I want to tell them or not like Laurie said, but it's painful to tell. I reached into the back of my pillow to grab something and pulled out my pouch. I sighed as it reminded me of my first and oldest friend I had in the Underworld. I used this pouch to hold my smoke bombs and Knock-out Leaves as it has a use for it. Not just being my wallet or money pouch, but as a need of service when needed as a ninja. But it slowly brought memories of the blind skeleton that was the gatekeeper. I brought the pouch to my chest as I closed my eyes to remember the skeleton. "Kuzca..."

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**I hoped you like this week's chapter. Kaitoukiwi, again I thank you for letting me use Laurie in my story as you have Lucas in yours. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it and I'll see you all next week for more of Lucas' adventures. Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week. :)**


	20. Kuzca's Destiny

**Hey everyone, Happy Friday and that means it's time for an update. Along with a soundtrack I've been wanting to use for a long time. Now I finally get the chance to use it. Type up the link on YouTube at watch?v=_D5H-VBLNd4 and when you see the mark, *, enjoy. **

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**Chapter 19: Kuzca's Destiny**

_It has been over six months since Storm left to migrate and grow. But then again he would hate this weather as he's cold-blooded. It's February. But I tend to wonder if I'll ever see him again. But whenever I need to get something from Jamanakai Village or any other nearby village, my uncle would let me use my golden sai's to conjure my Spinjitzu Vehicle. But I still miss my dragon. But I like my vehicle too._

_And for an unknown reason, I know how to make repairs to my bike and the ones the skeletons drive. Where did I learn to be a mechanic? The events of my week off have been fuzzy still. It's been six months since then and I'm still confused on what happened. I don't remember how I got my new sai's as I needed a new set and they were in my hands. I don't even remember how I got the burn marks on my suit. Was I in a fire? Did I save someone from it? I hoped I didn't reveal myself as a ninja to the world. Can't let my father know I exist._

_The only thing I do remember was the glass jar of black powder and the leaves. I taken the pill capsules you would get from pharmacies and used a mold to have glass capsules forged and used the powder to have my own collection of smoke bombs. When in the tight capsule, the spark in the powder ignites everything to the point to where the glass capsules break and the smoke would last longer in the air. The leaves though, I find them effective as my pellets. I did a small experiment on myself to see how long the effects were and they last for a couple to a few hours. They really knock you out fast. Henchforth why I call them Knock-out Leaves._

_Days have passed now and I'll never know when my uncle plans to escape the Underworld. He keeps talking to me and Samukai that he knows of a plan to escape, but he can't without a map. To what?_

_..._

_Rrrrrooooooaaaaaarrrrr!_

I gasped as I dropped my pen. Could it be? Only one friend that I know would roar like that. He's back! I couldn't believe it. It's been too long since he left to migrate and grow. But he was finally back. "I'm coming, Storm!" I shouted excitedly and got up from my bed to perform Spinjitzu.

I stopped spinning to be dressed into my grey gi and pants without my mask, grabbed my sai's, and to make my uncle less angry, I slipped my shoes on. Once I was prepared, I didn't run for my door. No, I instead ran for my window, glad it had no glass or screen, and jumped out of it. As I fell, I performed Spinjitzu to make sure I landed safely so I didn't break my legs. A lesson I learned after I twisted my ankle from jumping out of a tree to reach another when I was fourteen. After I landed on the stone bridge, I was still excited to see Storm soon and ran across the courtyard to the keep.

_Rrrrrrrrrooooooooaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!_

I am coming, Storm. Just wait and calm down. I crossed the bridge and slowed down as two skeletons guarded the entrance and crossed their spears as I came closer. What were they doing? They can't do this to me. I am Lord Garmadon's apprentice and they have no right to block me from the keep. "Let me through, Jor and Myrite." I demanded to the skeletons. When you're in the Underworld for six years, you pick up a few names of the skeletons around you.

"Sorry Ninja." Myrite said coldly. "Under King Samukai's orders, we keep those that interfere out. Mainly you."

Interfere? For what? Storm's my dragon. I have a right to see him. _Rrrrrrooooaaaarrr!_ I felt unbalanced as a strong gust of wind pushed me back. Storm must be angry about something. When he's angry, he flaps his wings to push me back to show me his anger. But why was he angry though? Oh wait it's because of the skeletons he hates. He's throwing a fit about it. But why keep me out? "Hold it down!" Samukai's voice bellowed. "Before it destroys our home!"

That does it. I'm going in. Screw the _king's_ order. I pushed myself up to the guards, but they wouldn't budge. I felt bony hands grabbing my gi and saw Jor lifting me up with ease. Must've been a strong person before he died. Each skeleton was once human as Kuzca used to be. And once they joined Samukai's ranks, they still keep their physical strength as a bony skeleton. "Stay out, boy." Jor growled and threw me back.

I grunted as my back made contact to the stone ground. My lungs ached for awhile and I sucked in a breath and slowly got onto one knee. _Rrrrrroooooaaaarrrr!_ I growled as I slowly stood up to my feet and glared at the two guards. I'm getting in no matter what. I may not have my golden sai's with me, but I can still control my powers. I slowly raised my arms up and had my hands in front of them. "Let me through." I said through my teeth in anger. I felt a cool sensation running in my veins and two streams of pressurized water erupted from my palms. Jor and Myrite were surprised as I was too at the liquid coming from me. Usually I would have control on water when I train. But never have it come from my hands. I watched the liquid sail through the air and heard shouts from the two skeletons and stopped the water to have two orbs in my hands. The orbs slowly merged back into my gloved hands and left them dry and looked up to see the two skeletons disappear from where they were as their bones were scattered with drops of water. Without hesistation, I ran into the keep.

As I ran through the path to the large area of the keep, I stopped in my tracks to gasp as the dragon calling out wasn't mine. It wasn't grey. It was a light orange dragon. A dragon that looked similar to mine, but it was lean muscled instead of Storm's muscular body; so it was slender. Instead of a rounded snout, it had a hooked snout like a hawk would have. Eyes were a rich shade of it's scales with the pupils like Storm's. And by the looks of the wings, hers looked stronger than Storm's. That's right on what I said. By the looks of the dragon, she was a female dragon. Where did she come from though?

"Hold it down!" Samukai demanded.

The voice broke me out of the trance and watched the brigade of skeletons throw grapple hooks in the air. The orange dragon cried out in pain as the hooks pierced through her scales to have blood well out. No doubt that her orange shine could blend her blood as it was dark red. It made my heart ache. "What are you doing!?" I cried out.

The hunched king skeleton turned to my cry to growl. His red fire eyes burned through me like daggers as I disobeyed his orders and possibly killed Jor and Myrite with my powers. My anger lead me to that. I glared at him as he did on me. "Stay out of this, boy!" he ordered. I don't take orders from him. The skeletons pulled the ropes and the dragon lost her footing and fell. She could get up now and skeletons bounded her legs together. "This dragon is causing trouble and will destroy our home if we don't do a thing about it. It must be killed!" He raised a fist and it was followed by a shout of applause.

I growled at them. They don't deserve to kill a dragon. My heart ached still as I looked into her reptilian eyes as they were pleading for release. This has to stop. I don't care of the consequences from the king. "That 'it' happens to be female." I stated coldly. "And release her now!" Samukai ignored me and drew out a sword. I gasped as he slowly walked towards her. To deliver the kill. I made myself a vow to protect those that can't protect themselves. Mainly to children who get lost in the woods or help elderly people when I'm in a village. But with dragons, it must be released. By me. I drew out a deep breath and held my palms out at Samukai. Just like what I did to Jor and Myrite. "Water!" I cried out and the two pressurized streams of water erupted from my hands. Samukai stopped and turned to scream in surprised as the jets made contact to him and pushed him away from the dragon. I relinquished the streams and drew out my sai's. "Ninjaa-Goo!" I shouted and created my Spinjitzu.

I directed my misty tornado at the skeletons who held the ropes with hooks onto the dragon and severed the ropes. I stopped spinning to swing a kick at Whyplash. I blocked the swords as the skeletons charged at me to prevail me from releasing the dragon. I then throw my sai's at two more skeletons that held the orange dragon's legs down and struck them in the chest. I ran, ducked, and even jumped over the skeletons to retrieve my sai's and sliced the dragon's four legs free. "Go!" I shouted at her. "Get out of here!"

The dragon sprung to her feet and roared the loudest at the skeletons. An orangish glow emitted from her mouth and exhaled to have nothing come out of her mouth. I felt a gust of wind run through my grown shaggy hair as the skeletons were being slowly pushed back or blown away. What kind of dragon was this? The dragon stopped blowing...what ever she was doing and stood on her hind legs and flapped her strong wings. I felt myself skidding as her wings were creating a wind storm to push the remaining skeletons. She landed on back on all four her legs and swiped her front claws at the ones regaining their footing while I fought against the ones with swords and grapple hooks. I ducked as she swung her tail around to knock the skeletons down to scatter their bones and ran out of the keep with me behind her.

I watched her run out of the keep and stretched her wings fully and took flight. She cheered in joy to be free as she flew in grace around the courtyard. I caught her eyeing me and roared to what I think was a thank you and started spinning like she was an orange blur. I knew what she was doing as it was the way Storm and I use to enter the Underworld from our flights. She was now using it to escape. I watched her fly up to the ceiling to see a vortex open up and she was gone. I don't know who she was, but I was glad to save her from death and slipped my sai's through my belt as I was done.

Suddenly I felt something grip my shoulders and something over my mouth and tied tightly behind my head. I tried to call out for help and only heard muffled noises from me. Perfect. I was gagged. I felt my wrists being tied behind my back and looked over my shoulders to see Samukai glaring fire at me. I broke Kuzca's warning. Never betray Samukai or suffer the consequences. "You must be taught a lesson, ninja." he growled with a sour tone. I glared at him as I was being dragged to the courtyard. I noticed the skeleton army gathering around as I was thrown in the center and watched him step back. "For once in two hundred years," he began to address the crowd. "We finally have a human who disobeyed my orders. Now this retched ninja has betrayed my orders and shall be punished. This shall be fun."

The skeletons began to slam the ends of their weapons onto the stone ground. They made it sound like a drum of steel as they slammed in unison. I tensed up as they were picking up with speed and gasped at the sight of a whip in Samukai's hand. The chanting stopped and echoed in the air as the hunched skeleton unraveled the coil and gripped the thick end. "This should teach on who you follow, boy." he growled and whipped his arm back and forward.

I quickly turned my head away to dodge the whip. _Crack!_ The sound of the whip reminded me of thunder clapping in a storm. Samukai growled and drew his hand back to retrieve the whip and whipped it again. I rolled to the side as the whip came again. _Crack!_ That was close. I watched him retrieve the whip back and whipped it forward again. In a quick reaction, I spread my legs open to make sure the whip didn't hit my legs and cracked on the ground. Correction, that was too close. I suddenly felt bony hands grip my shoulders and pinned me to the ground. I struggled to get up, but my hands were bounded and I couldn't get up. I lifted my head as Samukai retrieve the whip back and a wicked grin grew on his bony jaw. I closed my eyes as he whipped his arm at me to deliver the stinging pain I am about to endure.

_Crack!_

Huh? I heard it crack, but I didn't feel any pain. I felt the bony hands releasing me and I slowly opened my eyes to lift my head to gasp. In front of me was a skeleton dressed in red tattered robes with an expertly carved staff in his left hand while his right with a missing hand was raised up with the whip wrapped around it. Kuzca. He saved me. My friend gave the whip a tug to pull it free from a surprised Samukai and unraveled it from his wrist and knelt next to me and untied my gag and drew out a knife from his robes and cut my wrists free. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly. I rubbed my wrists to feel a slight rope burn and nodded my head rapidly.

"Kuzca, what are you doing!?" Samukai shouted. "Return to the gates so I can punish the boy for disobeying my orders. That's an order."

Kuzca stood up without complaining about his cracked bones and turned to Samukai with a glare of his empty sockets. I carefully stood up and was starting to shake a little. What was he doing? "Never." he simply stated.

There was silence in the air. I looked around as the skeletons were surprised by Kuzca's retaliation. Even I was surprised. So was Samukai. "What!?" he shouted. "You dare disobey my orders again!? I am your king and leader of this army!"

*****"I don't see a king here." Kuzca chastised. Then what does he see? I see an angry hunchedback skeleton. "No. I see a murderer and a thief that took everything from me and cursed me with this gatekeeper role. And I will not let you hurt this boy!" The blind skeleton turned his gaze away from Samukai to look at the skeletons. "You see what I'm doing!?" he addressed them with his voice raising up. "I am retaliating against this fool! I am sick of his ruling ways! I've spent two hundred years as his gatekeeper and I will not stand it longer! He took my wife from me and my son! And I will not let him do this to anyone!

My mouth dropped and so did Samukai's. Kuzca, what are you doing? "Stand down, Kuzca!" Samukai demanded and drew his four swords out. A fight was about to break soon.

"Noo!" Kuzca shouted and turned to face Samukai. I can feel tension of anger and hate rise in the air as the skeletons glared at each other. "I will not stand down to you! I will not bow to you like a slave!" he shouted, voice no longer creaky, but malice and steel. "I used to be human that had everything that I had love until you took it from me and made me immortal." Okay he sounds really mad. What made him this mad? Was it something that I did? Or Samukai? He sees me as his friend and I see him one too. And he also saved me from Sherra once because he was worried for me. Now that Samukai tried to harm me, Kuzca was now angry to retaliate him. "I am standing up against you as I am through with your kingly ways for I have the heart of courage to fight against you!" He lifted his staff up and slammed the end onto the ground.

He suddenly began to glow and I shielded my eyes to the white light as it was blinding to me until it died down. I removed my arms to see and gasped to what was in front of me. A skeleton with no missing rib bones or cracked bones or a missing right wrist. A full skeleton in front of me. The tattered red tunics were stitched and mended to have it clothed over his rib cage and legs. Leather boots climbed up to his mid-thighs with steel on the front to protect his shins. Behind him was a red cloak with the hood over his skull to hide his identity. The carved staff was still in his hands but on the tip was a spearhead. His staff was a weapon of a spear this whole time. And his eyes were no longer empty sockets of darkness, but were two blue flames of anger. Not red, but blue. The hottest flame there was. Kuzca could see now. My friend was no longer a blind gatekeeper for Samukai, but a savior and guardian to fight against the leader.

Samukai shouted in anger. He would not tolerate his subjects turning against him. "Very well then!" he shouted. "Prepare to die!" He gripped his swords tightly and charged at him with a battle cry. Kuzca shouted a battle cry as well and charged at the king. Both skeletons raised their weapons high and struck down.

The sound of thunder clapped through the air as both skeletons blocked the other's weapons. Samukai's swords were crossed to stop Samukai's spear from penitrating his rib cage. The skeletons removed their weapons to step back and Samukai charged back at my friend and swung his swords at him. Kuzca swung his spear like it was a bō staff and kept parrying the swords. Kuzca parried a sword to have Samukai stumble back and with a sly hand reached into his cloak to pull out two shurikens and twirled his body to throw them. The two pieces of sharpen metal sailed through the air like they were those plastic frisbee discs I would see the kids play in the village on the surface and struck Samukai in the chest.

The king cried out in pain. Bone fragments of his ribs scattered on the ground as the shurikens were buried deep into his sternum and near his collarbone. The hunched skeleton tossed one of the swords aside and gritted his teeth as he forcefully removed the shurikens from his bony body. "Very sly and clever, you fool." he complimented cold and harsh. "But you know that doesn't kill me. Unlike this dagger." He reached behind his back and drew out a dagger. The dagger was curved with hieroglyphics of their language on a black hilt. But the blade wasn't metal like most of the weapons around the Underworld. It was stone. Black stone from cooled down magma with a purplish ghostly aura. "The Reaper's Blade can kill you. Not just pathetic sword or spears. I shall use this to finish you off. I should've known you'd betray me since I let that pathetic, miserable wife of yours live and you wouldn't kill your son."

Kuzca shouted in anger and removed his cloak to reveal his skull. I can see the blue flames of his eyes burn with hatred like a bonfire. "You take back what you said, you murderer!" he shouted. "The one that shall be dead will be you for your crimes of cursing me and taking my family from me. This will show you that no skeleton fear you. They may fear you. But I don't."

Samukai chuckled wickedly. "Very well then." he laughed coldly. "Die like your pathetic family then." He shouted and charged at Kuzca. The once blind skeleton shouted too and charged at Samukai.

I watched as the two skeletons fought against each other in pure hatred. Samukai would use his swords to distract Kuzca so he could use the Reaper's Blade to kill him. But Kuzca would dodge the blade while attacking at Samukai with his spear. For someone who was blind for a long period of time, he fights well to have his eyes back to see and stood up against to the cold-hearted leader. Not one skeleton even interfere on the challenge as each one kept landing blows at each other. I should be doing something. "What is happening here!?" a cold voice shouted.

I turned my head away from the brawling skeletons to face my uncle. I didn't respond to him as I was worried for my friend. Staying silent, I turned my head back to the skeletons. "Kuzca is fighting against Samukai for this boy's safety." Kruncha stated harshly. My uncle looked at me to see if it was true with a glare. And in my reply, I nodded sadly. I heard a growl escape his throat as I got personal with a skeleton. A rule he told me when I was fourteen. Never get personal with the skeletons for you'll never know if they'll turn against you. Not Kuzca though. He was a person that was forced to be a gatekeeper for his entire life. A skeleton who hates Samukai as much as I do.

I watched Samukai parry Kuzca's spear from thrusting into his chest and watched him stumble back. The king switched the stone blade to have the blade pointed downward and struck it into Kuzca's rib cage; above where his heart was. Kuzca cried out in pain while clutching his chest after Samukai removed the blade to have a ghostly vapor escape from his wound. Was he...bleeding!? "Kuzca!" I cried out and tried to run to defend him, but was stopped as something grabbed my arms and wrists. I looked to see a small group of skeletons gripping my arms to prevent me from interfering with them as I couldn't escape their group. I was worried for my friend now.

Samukai watched as Kuzca whithered in pain to the Reaper's Blade and sheathed the stone blade. When the shuriken struck him, he wasn't bleeding that ghostly vapor unlike Kuzca. What black magic was this dagger? Samukai knocked Kuzca's spear away and kicked him in the chest to knock him down. Kuzca prompt himself up with his elbows and looked at Samukai with a scared, but hateful look. "Kuzca," Samukai spoke up while sheathing his swords. "For the betrayal of fighting your kind and disobeying my orders and befriending with a human, you are hereby sentenced to death. Any final words?"

Death? Was it possible since he's already a skeleton? Kuzca didn't look scared as Samukai loomed over him. He turned his head to me to smirk and then to the hunched leader. "No matter what you'll do, it will never change anything." he said powerfully. "I may have retaliated against you for the boy's safety, but one day, you'll betray yourself for power." He lifted his chin high with his chest out. Waiting for death to fulfill.

My lips started to quiver with a few stray tears slicking down my face. "Do not look away." Garmadon commanded. I nodded as I couldn't in the first place. Samukai raised a fist high and penitrated it through Kuzca's rib cage. Kuzca didn't even cry out in pain. Samukai brought his hand out from the ribs with a blue flame in his palm. Must be Kuzca's heart. The king looked down at Kuzca as he was still alive by a thread and extinguished the flame in his fist. It almsot sounded like shattered glass.

Kuzca gasped and sucked in a breath, but couldn't. He slowly collapsed back as his death has come upon. A whirlwind surrounded the skeleton's body and slowly turned his bones to dust and ash. All except for his skull. The whirlwind stopped blowing bone dust into a pile and the blue flames of his eyes flickered away to nothing.

Kuzca, my friend, was dead. No longer immortal. Dead dead. Samukai picked up Kuzca's spear and tossed it into the ash and robes of my friend's body and walked away in victory.

I felt my arms loosen from the skeleton's grip as they slowly walked away as if nothing happened. "You did well." my uncle complimented and walked back to the fortress. I was now alone with my friend. A pile of ash and bone dust. And the tears poured down my cheeks as he was gone.

I slowly walked up to the pile and fell to my knees next to the pile. I couldn't believe it as he was gone. My vision began to feel fuzzy and cloud up and slowly returned to normal. The sound of thunder made me raise my head to feel a down pour of rain fall on us. My emotions were effecting my powers. I not only have the power to manipulate water, but I can control and create storms like my uncle once said. I felt soaked to the bone as the rain poured down and washed Kuzca's ashes away with his skull slowly dissolving to ash as well. I even caught him smiling as he died as I figured it out why. He was finally going to join Mylee and his son. It was what he would have wanted.

After his ashes were washed away, I picked his spear up and his robes and slowly stood up. I gave him a smile as he was now free and slowly wiped my tears away. This was what he would've wanted. To be free and keep me safe. "Thank you, Kuzca." I said quietly with tears. "Rest in peace."

* * *

**Poor Kuzca, but it's what he wanted though. To be free from Samukai. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the soundtrack because I thought it was perfect for the part of Kuzca's retaliation. Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week on Lucas' adventures. :)**


	21. Where Were You

**Happy Friday everyone, time for another update. So I'm letting you know that this chapter would be turning on and off with the past and present of Lucas. So I'm letting you know so you're not confused whatsoever. Plus I had to watch a few parts over and over from the movie they made to be the exact thing. Anyway enjoy. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Where Were You?**

_It has been seven months since my friend's, Kuzca, sacrifice has passed on. I am alone now in the Underworld. Storm hasn't return in over a year now. I tend to wonder if I'll ever see him again. I turned seventeen last month and I still miss my scaly friend. And my once blind friend. But it's what he would've wanted. To be free from Samukai's control and be reunited with his wife and son. A happy family reunion. I hoped he found his way to the light and his family._

_In honor of my friend's sacrifice, I did an honorable memorial for him. I went to his village from where he grew up with his spear and robes. Even though the village has been abandoned for years, it was still breathtaking. The sea. The air. The view. Everything that Kuzca told me about from his stories. It was magnificent. And in honor for him, I went over to the cliff edge, from where he said he married Mylee, and struck the spear shaft into the ground and threw the robes over the spearhead facing the ocean. It's what he would've wanted too. To be home with the ocean. And I could've even sworn I even heard his voice in the winds saying: Thank you, Lucas. For everything._

_After the small funeral and shrine, my training has been somewhat lack-y. I'm still focused with my training. But whenever I'm with Samukai to reach the surface, it's difficult. He killed my friend. With Kuzca as the gatekeeper, the doors are sealed forever; no way reaching to the surface. For Samukai, being the king has not only made him that, but as an alchemist as well. Potion brewer. He has created an elixir to act as a portal to reach the surface. He even managed to enhance the potion so that the vehicles can travel through the portal whenever._

_The same goes with my Spinjitzu vehicle. I'm able to use my bike to travel to the surface to train or whenever my uncle gives me a day off so I can gather supplies from Jamanakai Village. And as usual I have to give my sai's back so Sherra can guard them. But I prefer to use the hidden path near the doors that Kuzca showed me. That's how I can do stargazing and play my flute in peace. Kuzca couldn't leave the mountains, but he loved my music when he stayed in the tunnel. And my memories will stay forever with me of him as a friend_.

...

"And I'll miss my skeleton friend forever." Lloyd read out with an old black journal in his hands. His green emerald eyes were slightly wide in interest as he sat on the floor of the walk-in closet of the shared bedroom.

I had my back pressed against the wall near Zane and Jay's bunk as I heard everything. I would peek through to see my cousin gazing into the black book. He found my journal. The one I had since I was thirteen. The only thing that too will return me to the past. My memories first. Then my journal. But how did he find it in the first place? I had it stored away in one of the boxes in the closet that I share with my brothers because they too store their personal belongings. But still, how did he stumble onto my journal? Sure am not gonna get answers if I stay hidden. I stepped out of hiding and stood in front of the doorway. My shadow casted over him and blocked his source of light from the early morning sunlight emitting from the window of our room. Not angry at all, but curious. "Lloyd?" I asked him. "What are you doing?"

Lloyd jumped in surprise after he lifted his head to see me and quickly closed the book and hid it behind his back. Like he can hide that from me. He can be sneaky all he wants, but I saw that. I gave him a slightly hard stare with my hazel grey eyes and heard him sigh in defeat. I won this round. The green ninja slowly removed his arms from his back to reveal the black book and stared at it. "It's your journal." he replied quietly and soft and held it out to me. "I found it."

What was he scared about? I just surprised him that's all. Not mad or anything. I reached down to grab the book gently and freed it from his hands. I ran my fingers over the rough leather and binding as cracks were forming from age and slowly opened it. It brought back memories from my first entry at thirteen to my last before I joined the team. And there were still a few blank pages of the once ivory colored pages. I couldn't help but give off a quiet chuckle at the sight of my handwriting as it improved over the years. Sloppy at first, then better, well written. With my tutor in the Underworld from the Darkley's Boarding School, I was eligible to receive a diploma like any high school student, but at a young age. I closed the book and sat next to Lloyd and pressed my back against the wall. "So where did you find it?" I inquired.

"Uh...I..." he stuttered to reply. He's hiding something else. Lloyd drew in a deep breath and sighed. "I have a hidden stash of candy hidden in the closet and a week ago I bumped my head on the shelf and this box fell and I was curious to know what it was." So that's the reason how. Candy. He has a sweet tooth for that to have a stash hidden in here. "So when I realized it was yours," he continued. "I wanted to see what was inside and found your journal. So every morning I would wake up early, eat a few pieces of candy, and read your journal." He sighed. "I'm sorry if I invaded your privacy."

So it's a sugar reason. Somewhere he has a stash of sweets and accidently found my journal. Well of course I forgive him. He's my cousin. He was just curious as all kids are. I looked at him and chuckled and ruffled his messy hair. "You're fine." I said to him. "But I'm curious though. Why are you up early when everyone else is still asleep? Usually you always hate waking up early and are the last one up."

Lloyd shifted himself to lean against the wall. "Well after I found our journal, I wake up every morning to know more about you and what happened." he replied. The small ninja then averted his gaze to his bare feet. Something was troubling him now. "Lucas, I'm sorry to hear about your friend." His voice cracked in the end.

I looked at him confused. Why was he sorry? Kuzca sacrificed his life to protect me and that's what he intended. I came out unharmed, but still had a broken heart that my friend was gone. But I'm proud though that he's free from Samukai. "It's alright, Lloyd." I told him. "It's what he would've wanted. To be free."

"So that's why you snapped at Cole last night then." Lloyd chastised lightly. "You kept the coins as they're all what you have left of him." I looked at him and nodded. "Okay. So I noticed the date on the journal and that's around the time Uncle started forming the team to find the weapons, from what the others told me. Where were you when that happened?" he prompted, wanting to know more in person than a book.

I sighed at him and quickly poked my head out to spy on the others to hear their snores. Cole's heavy snore as a car's muffler meant he was in a deep sleep. Jay's normal mumbling about him and Nya. Kai's muffled snores with the pillow over his head. And then there's Zane with his silent snore with his hibernation mode still buzzing in his head. To that, I gave a small smile as they were still asleep and retreated back. We still have time. I looked down at Lloyd with a smirk. "First things first." I smirked. "How about the stash of yours?" I asked and poked him in the stomach.

Lloyd gave out a small chuckle and stood up walk deeper into the closet until he was under a shelf. He pushed a board and it slowly caved into the wall and moved it aside. A hidden compartment. That little sneak. Lloyd reached into the hole to have his entire arm inside and pulled out a Ziploc bag of candy. How did he find the hidden compartment in the first place? My cousin walked back to me and pulled the bag apart to open it and held it out to me. I eyed the various chocolates, fruit-flavored gum, and other sugary sweets. Which one? I found my pick and pulled out a cherry flavored sucker and unwrapped it and popped the hard candy into my mouth. Lloyd fished around the bag to pick out a green apple flavored hard candy and unwrapped it to pop it into his mouth. "So what happened while the others were above ground?" he asked while sucking on his candy.

I pulled my sucker out of my mouth and twirled the paper stick between my fingers with the melted harden sugar of artificial cherry flavor on top. Nothing much happened while the others were grabbing their weapons. I had to stay in the Underworld so my father couldn't see that I was alive. So I had cabin fever while I was down there. I brought myself back and placed my treat back into my mouth with the paper stick at the corner of my mouth like it was a toothpick. "Nothing much." I replied while trying to keep saliva from drooling out. "This is what I did while the others were out..."

...

"The Fearsome Dragon!" Garmadon commanded. I had my legs spread apart with my right knee bent as I leaned to the right. One of my hands was over my chest while the other was over my hip. My fingers were like lightning bolts as they faced over the opposite wrist. I looked like a dragon with its mouth open like it was about to breathe fire. Or water. Reminds me of Storm. He's still gone. "The Poisonous Snake!' Garmadon commanded my second stretch.

I shifted my legs to have my right leg straight out in front of me while my left leg was behind me and my left foot was balanced on the balls of my foot. My hands shifted from my chest and hip and had my fingers together like arrows and had my left hand near my chest while the other was out like my right leg and both in an angle. I looked like a cobra ready to strike. And to make it convincing, I even hissed like a snake. "Now what?" I asked.

My uncle smirked at me with his arms behind his back as he stood in front of me. I watched him with my eyes as he circled around me to be behind me. He's planning something for me. "Now attack!" he demanded and removed his arms and threw two shurikens at me. I quickly saw what was happening and got out of my stance and jumped. I brought my arms to my chest while twisting my body over the two pieces of sharpen metal and could see them grazing underneath my stomach and landed in a crouch. I drew out my sai's and threw them and the blades caught the cloth of his kimono on his shoulders and pinned him to the decorative detailed walls that you would see in any monastery that separated him from the throne to the center. My uncle kept smirking at me. "Very good, Lucas." he complimented and freed himself and tossed my sai's to me.

I caught my sai's by the handles and slipped them through my belt to sheath them and bowed. "I think I'm ready." I insisted.

Garmadon's smirk turned to a sneer look and shook his head. "Not now." he denied. "You'll get your chance, but now isn't the time. By now..." He was interrupted with the sound of heavy boots scraping the ground. We turned around to see Samukai entering from behind the throne and sat down on the throne. Something was bothering the murderer of my friend. He looked nervous and uneasy. "What is it, Samukai?" he asked cold and dark.

The King of the Underworld looked nervous and rubbed his four bony hands. "Master, I have failed." he said scared. Oh this should be good. "They have learned Spinjitzu and they have the scythe." He hung his head in defeat. He deserves it. Hope he gets punished.

To what he's referring to was the ninja. My father's students. My uncle's plan to steal the Golden Weapons has finally come and we found the map to the other locations. My father gave it to an old friend of his to hide for safety, but the owner of a blacksmith shop has been dead for over a year now as I've been told from rumors. Now that Garmadon found the location by using the Reflective Pool to spy on my father and search, he sent Samukai and the skeletons to attack Ignacia Village to steal the map and a girl. I don't know who she was or I never met her yet, but why her? Now that my father knows that Garmadon was striking, he found the other four elemental ninjas, excluding the Green Ninja as he was nowhere found in the Reflective Pool. Where was he?

I turned to face my uncle to expect an angry look on his face, but instead he simply smirked. Why? "Good." he said calmly. I was stunned while Samukai looked surprised. "Then my brother was with them."

Samukai nodded and raised a fist to argue. "If I can gather my army," he offered. "We can easily ambush them at the..."

"No." Garmadon stopped him to make him flinch. Why was he like this? He's never like this. He was even angry at me for befriending Kuzca. What was he planning? "Let them think they're winning."

Samukai and I looked at him confused. "I...I...I don't understand." he replied confused. You're not the only one.

"Everything is going to a plan." Garmadon stated and began to chuckle lowly. Samukai and I looked at him confused still as he decided to let this...slip by him. Let them think they're winning. What does that mean? I watched Samukai bow to my uncle and left the room. Why was he letting go free? He should be punished for failing to steal the Scythe of Quakes. Garmadon stopped chuckling and turned to me. "I must go my apprentice." he said. "I have some things to attend to." and left for the doors. I was alone in the throne room. And I hated being alone in the Underworld since my friends were gone.

...

"So what did you do then while the others were...busy with winning of the weapons?" Lloyd asked while popping a piece of chocolate in his mouth. How much sweets does he really need? He's supposed to stay fit and cut down on sugars. Same goes for Cole on cake. But still for him. He had three fruit-flavored hard candies, four suckers, a sour jawbreaker, and now chocolate. He's gonna feel sick before breakfast.

I pulled the sucker out of my mouth that I was still sucking on. My saliva melted the harden sugar to the stick and I've been chewing on it for some time now. I hope he has at least some mint gum to chew on from his bag of goodies. I put the paper stick back into my mouth like it was a toothpick. "Well Lloyd, I did what any ninja would do." I said while watching him pop another piece of chocolate into his mouth. "I spied."

...

With me alone in the throne room, after yesterday's failure, I walked over to the basin of crystalized water and peered down into it to spy on the ninja. "My father and his students." I demanded and the pool began shifting around to show my father with his students. One red, black, white, and blue. The ninja. Fire, earth, ice, and lightning. I watched them trek through a snowy trail to an icy volcano. Where were they going? I transverse into the lair, as I was in shadow form, and saw frozen skeletons in blocks of ice. And they didn't look like Underworld type. Normal dead people. I watched the ninja walk up to the center to see the two golden shurikens; The Shurikens of Ice. The second weapons. They were gonna grab them now. Where was Samukai? I watched the three hoists the white ninja up to grab the shurikens and instantly froze into ice. I couldn't help but turn my head away to laugh so they couldn't hear me. I watched them escape from the ice dragon and use the ice ninja as a sled to my father at the bottom and crashed into a pillar. I couldn't help again and laugh at them.

...

Days after the ninja found the shurikens, I used the Reflective Pool to spy on them again to see their progress. I could see them climb up to a mountain top and the sky became dark with lightning flashing in a vortex. On the mountain top was an end of a...nunchuck and the thick chain-links floated to the other end into the clouds. That means they're after the Nunchucks of Lightning. The white one warned the others they were being followed by the skeletons and climbed up while avoiding floating debris in the sky. The blue ninja climbed to the top and grabbed the weapons and did a happy dance in celebration and a bolt of lightning struck near him to reveal a blue dragon. The dragon roared at the ninja and the blue one jumped off into a freefall with the others behind him. As they flew past the skeletons, wings sprouted out from their backpacks and glided away from the floating ruins. They were like hawks or some kind of bird to glide across like that. They continued to glide through the sky until they reached the Forest of Tranquility and set up camp for the night. I couldn't help but laugh as my father was dancing like a fool. I turned away as now they needed the Sword of Fire to have their weapons. But still, what's my uncle planning? I shook it out of my head and went to my room to retire.

...

"Tornado of Creation!" A voice shouted.

I snorted in my sleep and opened my eyes. That didn't sound like any of my uncle's shouts. It was less deep than my uncle's. But whose then? I climbed out of my bed and spun around to be into my suit and ran to my window. I gazed down to gasp in surprised to what I saw in the courtyard. The ninja. What were they doing here? I noticed in their hands weren't their golden weapons they stole. But regular weapons? What happened to them and why are they still doing here? I watched them stand back-to-back as they were surrounded by skeletons and the spiders. I smirked at them. They don't stand a chance to them like I do.

"Earth!" the black ninja shouted and created a dusty brown tornado with chunks of rocks. His Spinjitzu.

"Fire!" the red ninja shouted and spun into a fiery red tornado. The skeletons slowly stepped back to the threat.

"Ice!" the white ninja shouted and disappeared into his white Spinjitzu with shards of ice.

"Lightning!" the blue ninja shouted and was enveloped into a blue tornado with lightning crackling.

"Ninja-Go!" they all shouted and merged together. What were they doing? I gasped in surprise as I watched the merging Spinjitzu tornadoes into one and watched it climb up to the ceiling. What are they doing? I watched their elements emit off the tornado as it grown large by the second. I watched the skeletons, spiders, vehicles, being whisked away into the vortex The wind blew dust from both the ground and tornado and then my hair as it drew closer in amazement. I gave out a yelp of surprise and jumped away from my window and laid my hands over my head as I laid on my chest to avoid any flying debris.

I felt the wind easing down and carefully lifted my head to see my room was a mess and carefully stood up to my window to blink in surprise to what was in front of me. A giant ferris wheel made of bones that caged the skeletons. What was that? What was did they just do? I couldn't help but chuckle as Nuckal was eating cotton candy and Kruncha smacked him for being an idiot.

"Come on." the fire ninja encouraged. "There's no time to waste." and then they ran inside the fortress. What are they doing? There's got to be a reason why they're here. I turned away from my window and out of my room. I ran down the halls to reach the main hall and pressed my back against a pillar to hide from them. I carefully peered through and watched them head for the end of the hall; the stairwell to the throne room. They were heading for my uncle. The ice ninja stopped in his tracks and looked up to me and I quickly hid from him. That was too close. "Come on, Zane!" the fire ninja said.

I carefully peered to see the ice ninja was gone and took off running down the hall to the staircase at the end of the hall and moved a cinder block aside to a long narrow tunnel that'll lead me to the throne room. I found this spot when I was eleven and used it to spy or listen on Garmadon's plans or Samukai. But I only used it once as I thought it was useless to use and haven't used it for six years. But was now gonna use it again. I got down to my stomach and used my forearms to crawl in. It was a bit small and narrow, but I fitted in fine. After a couple minutes, I spotted light pouring through a grate to stare down below in shock to see my father in the center with Samukai and the Golden Weapons, but not mine. How did he get here? And what's going on here?

I watched the elemental ninja took a step forward, but the fire ninja stopped them. "No." he said. "This is Sensei's fight."

I watched my father jump, with the Sword of Fire, and sent a stream of fire at the skeleton king. Samukai dodged by jumping to the side and threw the two shurikens from his lower arms. My father deflected the first one, but the second one hit the blade and froze the blade to the ground. Samukai started swinging the nunchucks over his head and lightning was crackling as he kept swinging them. The ninja looked scared and worried as my father was struggling to free the sword from the ice and freed as Samukai sent the high voltage bolt and rolled to the side to land in a crouch. I can't believe I'm saying this, but: 'Get him, Dad!'.

Samukai growled and struck the scythe into the ground and the floating isle split into three chunks to make my father a bit unbalance and both bone bridges broke and fell. Samukai threw the shurikens again, and with foul play, he quickly sent a bolt and struck my father in the chest with the golden sword out of his hands. I couldn't believe. Neither could the ninja. My father was shocked as he lost. Get up, Dad! "Bring me the four weapons." Garmadon commanded while sitting on the throne.

Samukai looked at him, the weapons in his hands, and then the sword and picked it up. "No!" he shouted and turned to face my uncle. "You will obey me now!" Garmadon began chuckling. Wind started to howl and the weapons were shaking in the skeleton's hands. He even looked scared. "Huh?" He made a huge mistake.

My father recovered and jumped back to be with his students. "No one can handle of their power at once." he stated.

The wind started howling louder with the weapons shaking faster in the scared skeleton's hands. "Selfish fool." said Garmadon. "Did you think I wouldn't plan on your betrayal?"

The weapons were losing control and Samukai couldn't throw the weapons from his grasp. "What's happening to me?" he asked, frightened.

Garmadon leaned against the throne with a cocky smile. "You fallen right into my master plan." he answered. His smile turned to an angry snarl look. "Not even I can handle all of their power." I raised an eyebrow, as well as the ninja did. "But now that they are combined, it'll create a vortex between space and time. Allowing me to finally escape this ghastly place." So that was his plan. Not just to steal the weapons, but use the king as a guinea pig to help him escape. Kuzca was right. One day he'll betray himself for power. I heard Samukai murmured an 'Uhoh' and screamed as he was lifted up and was converted into ash.

Samukai. The once King of the Underworld and murderer of my friend was vanquished.

The weapons clattered on the ground and my uncle moved to the center as an electrical blue vortex opened with lightning crackling and emitting. "Father would not want you to do this, Brother." Wu cried to his older brother.

Garmadon turned on his heels to face his younger brother. "Father is no longer here." he hissed. I shielded my eyes as the light was growing intense. "Good and evil. There's always been a balance. Where I go, the balance can be destroyed. Soon I will be strong enough to posses the weapons. So I can recreate the world into my image." He turned to face the portal, but stopped and pointed at my father. "You." he hissed coldly. "You were always his favorite." He turned back and entered. The portal closed after him and he was gone. My uncle escaped. I was now alone.

...

"And that's where I was after your father escaped, Lloyd." I finished up my story. "He escaped through a portal and traveled to the realm where those things that attacked us during the Solstice Battle. The Dark Realm." I pulled the paper stick from my mouth and placed my middle finger under it and bent it with my ring and index finger into two. I have two minature sai's now. "That's where he was able to grow his arms and find a shard for the Twilight Mirror." And his other arms. I'm still keeping those a secret. "Now you know."

"Oh I see." Lloyd acknowledge and sealed his bag of sweets closed. "So what did you do after he escaped and you were alone?"

"Basically anything." I stated. "I was seventeen and didn't know what to do. I left the Underworld to live on my own as I didn't have him to train me or I didn't want to be with the skeletons. So all winter I worked at the tea shop in Jamanakai Village and kept training to stay fit until he returned." I came to an idea and peeked out of the closet to see the others still asleep and turned to Lloyd. "Since the others are asleep, want to make breakfast before Cole does?" I asked in a whisper.

Lloyd smiled. "Can we make chocolate chip pancakes?"

I chuckled and smiled. I know he had a bunch of sweets, but I think everyone should have some. "Sure Shrimp." My cousin's smile grew wide and went to hide his candy. I stood up to stretch and looked at my journal and slipped it into the deep pockets of my sweatpants and waited by the door to the hall for my cousin. I heard the closet door being shut quietly and the soft pads of feet running on the floor and silence. I felt a surprise weight on my back and realized it was Lloyd for a piggyback ride to the kitchen. I allowed it as I care for my cousin and we both quietly left the room without disturbing the others. Time for breakfast.

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**Hoped you liked it. Like I said before, it kept switching on and off of Lucas in the past and present and I had to watch the Underworld fight and escape over and over to be the like the movie. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this week's update and see you all next weekend. :)**


	22. Sherra's Lair

**Hey everyone, happy Friday, time for another update. Now that we know that Garmadon escaped from the Underworld, it's time now to see what Lucas does while he's gone. Also I have a soundtrack that I know that'll go great. Type up the link, watch?v=7r3IBlggnS8, and at the mark, *, enjoy. I honestly love listening to soundtracks to go for my chapters, sets the mood really well for it. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 21: Sherra's Lair**

_It has been days now for that my uncle escaped through a vortex to an unknown place. And days after Samukai, the once King of the Underworld and murderer was vanquished from this world. Kuzca was right. He would betray himself for power. The power of the Golden Weapons, excluding mine, were too powerful for him. Now he's nothing but dust. My friend's death has been avenged. But now that Garmadon has disappeared, I am alone..._

...

I tossed my pen down on my desk to sigh as I leaned against the chair while running my fingers through my hair. I didn't feel like writing today. I am bored. My uncle was gone and I have no master to train me. I spent the days sleeping as it was boring with my uncle gone. What can I do? There was nothing for me to do. No friends to talk to. Or training. I do my own workouts, but it's not the same. Something slowly came to me and I walked over to my window to stare at Sherra's lair.

Somewhere in that cave was the home for the spider queen. Also the protection of my Golden Weapons. The Sai's of Water. I know my uncle was using my worst fears as the guardian to prevent anyone stealing them. It used to been Storm, but now it's her. But since my uncle wasn't here, I can steal them back so no skeleton can use them and I can escape from this godforsaken place. And if I can leave with them, I can have a normal life as a normal teenager. Maybe even a place to live or something as I'm sick of these skeletons and don't need their hospitality anymore. But my fear though. Sherra would eat me for sure if I trespass like when I was ten. Kuzca may not be around to help me, but I think I can do it on my own.

I grabbed my normal sai's from the coffee table and headed back to my window. I threw my legs over the sill and jumped down. I enveloped myself in my misty grey tornado to prevent myself from harm and ran across the courtyard until I reached the entrance to Sherra's lair. I stopped cold to start shaking as I felt my phobia acting up. Inside the cave was the queen of the spiders of the Underworld; the very one that was larger than the rest and nearly ate me like I was a fly. She clearly claimed this as her territory as strands of webs lined the mouth of the cave and gave it a haunting feeling. It reminded me of the hollow when I was little. My plan to scare my parents when it backfired and I ended up being the one scared. But somewhere in the lair were my sai's that I intended to steal back and leave this place until my uncle returns. But I won't go to my father though. I'd always say: It's now or never.

I closed my eyes to draw in a deep breath and slowly took my first step in venture into the dark lair.

...

I've been spelunking for five minutes and this place has already given me the creeps. The walls were lined with sticky treads. Dead bats entangled in the threads hanging above. Skeletons of horses littered the floor. And the smell of rotting flesh filled my nostrils and I nearly vomited. But what though? I haven't eaten any of the food the skeletons sent me. Anyway, the entire cave or tunnel was something like I would read late at night. Something about cave dwellers that would give me nightmares and have me coward under the covers like a child. I came across a cliff edge and saw the bottomless abyss and gulped. I better not be in the next campfire story. _'Hey did you hear about the boy who was afraid of spiders and went to steal two sai's from a giant spider?'_ I shook my head to clear the fear and slowly crossed the wooden bridge to safety.

As I trekked through the cave lit by torches, I tend to wonder where the queen was. Where was she? I haven't heard anything or seen movement. I constantly kept looking over my shoulders as if I was being followed and saw nothing behind me. My heart was racing against my ribs each passing second and I was shaking like a leaf. I'm starting to regret my idea. Why did I come to this? Was I thinking straight even? And I lead myself to my death. And in the hands -or legs- of my worst fear.

*****After I walked past to a clearing, I found out it was a dead end. End of the line. But I felt power coursing my veins and closed my eyes to concentrate as I could feel their presence. They felt strong and close. I looked up to gasp as I spotted the briefcase dangling by a thread of silk above a giant web with planks and a platform in the center. This must be how my uncle got them all the time. And still no sign of the spider. Good. I can get my weapons in peace. I grabbed a flat stone and put it in my pockets and began to climb up the rocky wall. I squeezed through the web without getting myself caught and flipped my body to have my back touching the wall. I fished the stone out of my pocket and placed two or three fingers on it and eyed my target. I found my target and threw the stone like I was skipping stones in the river and severed the thread and watched the case fall and cluttered on the wooden platform while the web bounced to the new weight and eased down. I carefully placed my foot on a plank and carefully walked to the center while keeping my balance until I reached them.

I knelt to my knees next to the case and flipped the locks upward to hear a click and opened the case. A golden glow shined on my face as I drew out my sai's from the foam shaped areas to house my weapons and felt their power course through my veins. I did it! I retrieved my sai's without encountering Sherra. I gazed at my reflection on the golden blades and peered closely as I saw something move behind me. I felt stiff and slowly turned around to gasp and froze to what was behind me. Sherra was hanging on the wall behind me from where I was before to throw my stone. I couldn't help but scream the loudest as she climbed down on the web.

"What's wrong, child-ild-ild?" it asked. Did it just talk to me? "Feel lost and alone without that guardian-dian-dian of yours-yours-yours?" Yep. That thing did speak to me. Crap. I am so screwed now. Not only will I die in the legs of my fear, but to one that can talk too. Perfect. I began shaking violently as I kept staring at her red eyes. More menacing than my uncle's. But how was it speaking though? She must be using...telepathy, yeah that's it. "Now...You'll be mine!" Hissing to have venom dripping from her pincher-jaws, she launched herself at me.

I was petrified to move as the spider lunged at me. I looked down at my sai's and came to an idea and quickly cut the web around the small platform and crossed my arms as I fell through with the platform before she could capture me. As I fell, I began to regret my idea as I was falling to my death. Why am I being stupid today? I quickly looked at my sai's and tapped them together to be enveloped in a bright light to be in my Spinjitzu vehicle. I saw a light flashing near a switch and cautiously flipped it. I heard something hiss, not Sherra, and saw the canopy flipping over me and splitting in half and extended on the sides and heard the engine hum to life. I felt a torque of speed and felt myself flying. Not only my vehicle can drive on the ground, but it can fly as well? This was some weird vehicle for sure. I suddenly felt it shaking as I was near the ground and disappeared in light and was screaming, not from fear, as I was falling for losing focus and impacted the ground and rolled.

I groaned loudly while clutching my left shoulder as it was in pain. Possibly dislocated. I heard Sherra hiss in anger and broke through her web to be above me as she landed. I saw something slide out of her abdomen and spinnerets and saw it was a barbed stinger. I gasped and rolled to the side to avoid the stinger as I didn't know what it does as she thrust down to impale me. I rolled to the other side as she attempted again and was stuck. I quickly drew out one of my regular sai's and struck it through her thorax. I heard her cry out in pain and quickly drew back as I pulled my sai free. I looked at the blade to be coated in greenish-blue blood. Odd. I thought spider's blood was transparent. Maybe to small and regular types, but to Underworld spiders I guess. The sound of an angry hiss brought me back and I quickly washed the blood off my sai and glove, sheathed it, picked up my golden ones, while ignoring the pain in my left shoulder and pointed the blades at the thrashing arachnid. "Water!" I shouted and the pressurized jets of liquid pulsed out of the blades and struck the spider in pain. Without hesitation, I quickly sheathed my golden sai's next to my others and took off running.

I sprinted as fast as my legs could let me while I clutched my shoulder. I am sure it's dislocated. My heart was racing against my chest like a drum as I could hear the sound of multiple footfalls behind me. She was gaining on me! Where was the bridge!? I ran to an opening and saw the bridge ahead and saw a shadow leap over me. I looked up to see Sherra jumping in front of me and stopped as she was blocking my escape. To make matters worse, she used her back legs to destroy the bridge; ensuring I don't escape alive. I slowly stepped back while she climbed forward and we both made a circle to have me at the cliff edge. I have two possible death choices. Being eaten alive. Or fall. I couldn't help but scream in fear. I may be seventeen, but it's still a giant spider. "Ahhh!"

_Rrrrraaaawwwwwhhhhh!_

I stopped screaming as it didn't sound like mine kind of scream and saw a shadow fly above me to slam into Sherra and make her sprawl on her back. I gasped as I watched my savoir land in front of me and knew who it was. "Storm." I gasped. My dragon has returned and has grown stronger as before. His grey scales were gleaming like he was a mirror almost. His snout was once smooth like any lizards would be, but was slightly hooked-shaped as an eagle's. Like the orange dragon's I saw once. But the one thing that hasn't changed were his eyes. Grey eyes with vertical pupil slits. Same as before.

Storm lowered his snout to nuzzle my chest and I threw my arms around him to hug him happily. I'm glad he's back. Especially coming in the nick of time to save me. I pulled back to stare into his eyes. "You came at a good time to help me here." I said and received a slobbery wet kiss. And this time I didn't cringe. I heard an angry hiss and looked at Sherra standing up and looked at Storm scared. My dragon saw my fear and lowered himself down for me to climb onto his back and I quickly did so and grabbed the reins with one hand while I made sure the other did nothing. "Now let's go." I told him and whipped the reins. Storm roared the loudest and spread his wings out and took flight to the exit.

The wind blew through my hair as Storm glided through the large cavern with ease. I gotta say, but I miss the feel of flying. Especially with Storm. It's like our first flight together in the Misty Forest. But now it's now in the lair of the spider queen. But with us together now, we can leave in one piece and the Underworld together. I heard the sound of footfalls behind us and turned my head to gasp as Sherra was climbing on the walls and ceiling in fast pace. I whipped the reins to make Storm fly faster and saw Sherra gaining on us. For a giant arachnid, for who knows how old she was, was incredibly fast on her legs. She really wants to kill me. "You will never-er-er escape alive-ive-ive!" she shouted in her language.

I turned my head back to Storm and whipped the reins again. "Come on Storm, can you move faster!?" I asked quickly. Storm roared in deniance as I figured this was as fast as he could fly. What are we gonna do? Sherra was almost near us. I kept turning my head to see the queen near us and saw the exit was far. I looked up to see the cave stalagmites and then my golden sai's and had an idea. I drew out my sai's and ignored the pain in my shoulder and stood up on Storm's back and looked at him. "Well you better because I'm gonna do something stupid to save us both." I prompted and pointed my sai's at the ceiling. "Water!" I shouted to have the streams fired from the blades and struck the ceiling.

I heard the surrounding area starting to shake and watched not only stalagmites fall but the entire ceiling as well. Opps. My powers as the water ninja may have loosen the sediment and rocks to make it weak and collapse. I sheathed my sai's and whipped the reins yet again. Storm roared as he glided to avoid the falling debris. "I warned you." I exclaimed and looked over my shoulders to see the queen tailing us while the ceiling collapsed behind her. I looked away to see the exit was near and couldn't believe that we were gonna make it. Suddenly the ceiling was collapsing faster and we had a few close calls of being struck. I hope we make this out alive. I turned my head back at Sherra and saw her lunge towards me. I thought that time had slowed down as I saw her menacing eyes burning through me and closed mine as she was close.

I felt myself impacting the ground hard and rolled while something covered me. My mind was telling me that it was Sherra as she finally captured me and will soon eat my corpse. But I didn't feel anything slim and smooth touching my face. It was rather thin and scaly. I slowly opened my eyes to expect a giant spider over me, but instead a grey scaly blanket. I watched it move to open and saw I was in the Underworld and out of the cave with Storm lying next to me as his wing acted like a blanket for me. We both made it out alive. I noticed we were covered in a thin layer of dust with bits of cobwebs on us and couldn't see the spider queen anywhere and carefully looked at the cave to gasp. The entrance was blocked from the fallen stone while the dust finally settled down and noticed something black and slim on the ground. I blinked in surprised to what I done as the black thing wasn't moving and I heard nothing.

I killed Sherra.

I couldn't believe it. I killed the one fear that has been trying to kill me for seven years now and I turned the tables now. I couldn't help but laugh in joy and victory that I did it. I stopped as I heard footfalls of iron boots behind me and slowly stood up while clutching my shoulder as it was in pain still. It no longer felt dislocated as I heard something give out a wet pop sound, but it was in excruciating pain to move it. I watched as the skeleton warriors slowly surround us and they drew out their weapons. I heard them murmur things like 'She should've killed you.' or 'He killed the queen'. Paranoid, I drew out a sai while Storm roared at them to scare them. "Stand back!" I demanded. I am Lord Garmadon's apprentice. It means I have control over them too. "All of you!"

Kruncha drew out his sword and stood in front of the surrounding group. Since Samukai's death, Kruncha was his second-in-command and took control of the army while Nuckal became his second-in-command. "We don't take orders from you anymore." he exclaimed cold and deeply. "Now that your master escaped from here, we don't have to take orders from a human scum like you. Sherra should've killed you while you were in there. Now it looks like we'll have to finish her job that she started." and slowly took a step forward. Soon after, the others followed suit.

I gulped as the odds of me fighting them to escape weren't good. "I said stand back!" I demanded and they ignored me. I sheathed my sai, next to my others, and climbed onto Storm's back. My dragon roared while slashing his claws, swinging his tail, and even breathing his element at them. "Storm, quick, to my room!" I commanded as I needed to pack a few belongings to escape. Storm extended his wings and took flight to the fortress. An arrow whizzed past my head and ducked as another flew past. They really want me dead now. We finally reached the courtyard and instead of landing, Storm flew to my window and used his front claws to reach in and rip off a chunk of the fortress like it was meat to create a gaping hole and crawled in. I slid off his back and quickly locked my doors and pushed some furinture to block the door to prevent them from barging in. That should buy us some time now. "Buy us some time while I get some things packed." I explained to Storm. My dragon nodded and climbed out to distract them while I began packing.

I grabbed my backpack and ran to a wardrobe to pack my regular clothes and suits. My bag was ratherly large inside while it looked regular as any bag would be. Once I packed all clothing I had into my backpack, I grabbed my flute and carefully slipped it in without breaking it, along with my golden sai's and regular sai's too, and struggled to zip it close, but managed to and threw it on my back with my arms through the loops. I heard the wooden legs of the chairs being pushed harshly as the doors were being rammed to open. Time was almost up. I ran over to my desk to grab my journal and slipped it through my pockets and pulled a drawer open to pull out a small burlap sack, the size of my pouch, of gold coins that my uncle gave me as allowance and slipped it into my pockets too. I heard the doors being rammed again and quickly ran to my once window. "STORM!" I shouted for my dragon.

The sound of broken wood caught my attention and I turned my head to see the skeletons kneeling to one knee with crossbows ready. I heard Storm's roar as he was near and saw him flying along near the side of the fortress. I knew what he wanted me to do. As if time slowed down, the archers released their arrows while I timed my jump and jumped. I timed it perfectly and felt the air move above my head as they flew past. My timing worked as Storm was under me and I made contact to his back and saddle and gripped the reins tightly. Storm and I flew up to the ceiling and began spinning like he was a drill until we escaped through a vortex without harm.

We made it out alive. And I did it with Storm and have my golden sai's with me too.

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**Gotta love suspense moments and near death experiences in stories. Now it's Lucas' turn to escape the Underworld, but where will he go? Find out next week. Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week. :)**


	23. Lloyd and the Serpentine

**Hey Everyone, Happy Friday. It's time for another update. Now that Lucas has escaped the Underworld, it's time to see where he has been for the time. Oh and I even have a soundtrack I've been wanting to use and finally found the best spot. Type up the link watch?v=k-U1ERufWPc and have it set at 1:56 and when you see the mark,*, hit play and enjoy. Find out what happens next to this chapter. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 22: Lloyd and the Serpentine**

**3 Months Later, March 1st**

"Come on Storm, we need to get these jasper flowers to Mystake while they're fresh." I said while whipping his reins to move Storm faster. Storm roared lowly at me while we glided through the clouds. "Yeah I know, but it's the first time of the month they're blooming and she's low on them." Storm huffed and continued to glide with ease.

I don't understand what his problem was. Ever since we escaped the Underworld alive, we had nowhere else to go. My arm was in pain after our escape and was worried if I broke it. But a couple days later in the woods, with the temperature dropping as it was late November, we were found by a tea shop owner and alchemist of herbs named Mystake and she tended to my broken shoulder in Jamanakai Village. Soon after from recovery, I found work at her shop. I actually enjoy working for her as she treats me kindly like family and even lets me stay in the guest room so I didn't have to deal with the trouble of owning my own place. I mostly worked in the back on inventory and she knows about my dragon, well maybe the entire village does too, but they don't know that I'm a ninja and I voluntarily go out to get the shortage of her herbs. I even have a little helper named Logan, who turned thirteen around the fall, who helps me with inventory and mixture of herbs for teas and is Mystake's nephew while her niece, who's younger than Logan and is his cousin, worked up front, but I hardly get a chance to know her as she's hardly around. But the funny thing about Logan was that he reminded of me when I was his age, but was different as he has blonde wavy hair and blue eyes.

So after three months, winter has finally passed and I head to find jasper flowers early in the morning and it was almost noon. These flowers were a bit difficult to find as they grew in the Forest of Tranquility near a cave. While I was near the cave, I began to recall the events of Sherra's lair. The spider queen was now dead after I retrieved my sai's and collapsed the ceiling onto her. The funny thing though was that I'm still afraid of spiders. I don't mind the common house spider as I'm now use to them, but can't deal with tarantulas or anything big and hairy. I don't know if I'll ever break free from my arachnophobia. But now that I have the flowers, I can see Jamanakai Village ahead and noticed near the entrance were four colored dragons. I quickly knew who was there as it was the ninja. Haven't seen them around. "Storm, land near the entrance and hide." I commanded and a quiet roar of understandment and he landed. I grabbed my small pack of flowers and slid off his back while he took off to hide as we didn't want to be seen as the missing ninja and dragon to the team and I walked through the archway to the mountain village.

As I walked up the cobblestone streets, I noticed most of the windows and doors and shops were closed and wondered what happened. Its noon and most the streets would be busy with shoppers and kids playing soccer, but it was empty. Did something happen while I was gone? I heard someone give out a small scream followed by laughter. "Crime doesn't pay, Muchacho." I heard someone say. "You can take that to the bank." and I turned a corner. I saw down the path was the ninja looking up at a sign and gasped as a boy, around eleven maybe, was hung by rope tied to his waist with a black hood over his head attached to a cape and was covered in garbage. "Mmm cotton candy." the blue ninja said to tease him while eating the cotton candy.

The boy growled through his teeth while kicking his legs and gave up. The ninja and the villagers were laughing at him. But I wasn't. Why was he getting this crap? I walked up to them and checked on the kid and felt pity on him. He wore nothing but black while his shirt had painted ribs and had a purple belt tied around his waist. Underneath his hood, I could see strands of blonde hair and emerald green eyes. I couldn't help but noticed the small tear forming as he being humiliated by the whole village. Not the kids though. I can see that they felt pity for him too. Remembering my vow, I turned to the ninja to shoot glares at them. "What's going on here?" I hissed at them.

The fire ninja stopped laughing to breathe and turned to me. "You mean you don't know?" he inquired while chuckling. No I don't. I just got back from an errand. "This kid here was being a brat and demanded candy or else he'll release the Serpentine." and took a lick of his peppermint stick.

That was it! Tying a kid to a sign as he wanted candy. It's natural for every kid to have candy. Heck, even Logan wants to get candy time to time. But the ninja being bullies now, that's different. I looked at the ice ninja and found his shurikens attached to the holster on his waist and shoved the earth, lightning, and fire ninja aside and quickly grabbed one and threw it at the sign and sliced the rope off. The boy gave off a small shriek as he fell and I caught him in my arms and his hood fell off to reveal his shaggy blonde hair that was almost in a bowl cut, but still was shaggy. He too reminded me of my age when I was young and could feel a presence in him. Like powerful. Very strong and powerful. I brought myself back and placed him on his feet and knelt to his height. "Are you alright?" I asked him worriedly.

"Ye-yeah. Thank you." he said kindly, while scared.

I smiled to know he was alright and safe and began to untie the knot from his waist. "Uh... Do you know what you're doing?" the black earth ninja asked.

I finished untying the knot to let the rope fall down and stood up to glare at them. "Yeah I know what I'm doing." I replied coldly. "I'm saving a kid from you bullies all because you wanted to be the heroes and humiliate him in public while he wanted candy."

"Us bullies?" the earth ninja continued and grabbed the back of the kid's shirt and held him like a cat while he gave out a surprise yelp and kicked his legs to squirm out. "Do you know who this brat is though?" he asked while gesturing to him. No I just saved him and they're making me mad as they are bullying him again. "He's the son of..." Before he could finish, I balled up a fist and threw it at his face and made contact to his jaw. I watched him recoil in pain and release the kid as he fell back in pain.

I shook my hand to relieve the pain and brought the kid back to my side. I saw the crowd gathering around as I was picking a fight with the ninja as they checked on the earth ninja as he held his jaw. I could see I left a good welt on his right jaw as it was red and swollen. Good. I think he deserved it. The lightning ninja stood up to glare at me. "Hey do you know who we are, Bucko?" he asked, making his voice sound harsh and angry. Yeah I know who you are. "Do you know who you're dealing with?"

I moved the kid behind me to step forward. "Yeah I know who you are and what I'm dealing with." I growled. "You are the ninja that protect Ninjago where there hasn't been any danger for three months now. And right now I'm dealing with four bullies that are ganging up on a small kid because he made a dumb threat. Now leave him alone or else I'll punch you all in the jaw and I won't back down." The ninja looked at each other on my threat and kept giving me small glares and helped the black ninja up to his feet and grabbed the missing shuriken and left. I'm glad that they're gone now. Soon after, the crowd left us alone. I turned to the kid as he was still behind me. "You alright still?" I asked.

The kid nodded. "Yeah I am still. Thanks." he said.

I smiled and knelt back down to him and picked the garbage off his shoulders. "So what's your name?" I asked while picking a lettuce leaf off his head.

"My name is Lloyd." he replied while cleaning his cheek of banana smudge off with his sleeve. "Thank you for helping me from them. What's your name?"

Lloyd. I like that. "Well Lloyd, my name is Lucas." I said and picked the banana peel off his hood and dusted him off. "And you're welcome for helping you. I wouldn't let them make fun of you. I had to defend you. But where are you parents?"

Lloyd sighed and looked at his worn black shoes. "I don't know." he replied quietly. "My dad left me when I was little and my mom dropped me off at the boarding school for bad boys and left when I was eight. I haven't seen them or my sister in a long time."

I looked at Lloyd with a frown as I felt pity for him. Poor kid has been abandon by both parents and his sister could be anywhere with them maybe. My question was: who were they? I kept looking into his sad eyes and came to an idea. "Hey do you want to stay with me then?" I asked. "I can ask Mystake about it and see if you can stay with us. I can help and take care of you."

Lloyd looked up at me and shook his head. "No. I'll be fine." he replied while throwing his hood over his head.

I frowned at him and could see that maybe he was on a search for his family maybe. To cheer him up, I reached into my pouch and pulled out a couple twenty dollar bills and reached for his hand and placed it in his palm. "At least do this for me." I said. "Take this cash to buy yourself some real food because you look like you haven't eaten in days. Do this for me, will you?" Lloyd looked up at me surprised and nodded. He placed the cash in his pockets and surprised me with a hug and murmured a thank you for the currency and left the village while kicking a rock. I sighed as I still felt bad for him on everything and headed to the tea shop so I can begin on inventory.

...

Today has been quiet and boring. Business has been slow today than usual. Logan would complain that it's boring to work. He's thirteen and he'll know about the responsibility of work better. Since it was a slow day today, Mystake had me and Logan study the ingredients of all teas we had from her book of herbs. There were some that help you sleep, give you energy to start the day, all of those helpful teas. The ones I found were fascinating as there was one that regulates your body heat, a tea that can make you older, and one that can help with your memories. But the one called Traveler's Tea had no description and was marked dangerous without ingredients. I asked Mystake about it and replied. "Only a fool would require that tea and those that drink it never return." From what?

But I couldn't study much on my studies as my mind was busy with wondering about Lloyd. The poor kid was abandon by both his parents and his sister is nowhere too. I felt sorry for him. I wished he accepted my offer of help for him to stay with me and Logan. There's a reason why Logan was here was because he wanted to help out and stay while his parents were busy on their shop across the village and Mystake's niece was busy with her parents. But for Lloyd though, I hoped that he finds what he's looking for. Hate to see him like that. I wonder if I'll ever see him again.

I climbed onto the ladder to a shelf and pulled down a box of jade leaves and heard someone screaming. Curiously, I climbed down and set the box down on the ladder step and looked through the doorway to the front counter and entrance. Logan looked up from the small television set as he heard the screams too. "What's going on, Lucas?" he asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders to his question. His guess was good as mine. I have no idea. I walked up to the counter and lifted the flap to walk out with Mystake and Logan behind me. I cautiously opened the door and heard the screams echo louder. Something was wrong. Wish the pathway wasn't surrounded by the stone wall. I need to perform stealth to see the problem, but can't do it near the two as I don't want to expose my secret ninja life. The village may know of Storm, but not the fact I'm a ninja and apprentice to Lord Garmadon. "I'm gonna see the problem and I want you two to stay inside in case." I explained. Mystake looked at me and nodded while bringing her nephew in.

With them inside, I ran up on the beam to reach the balcony and then jumped onto the roof. I scanned around the area and heard the commotion happening near the fountain. What was happening there? I ran across the rooftop and jumped to next shop and kept jumping to the next until I reached the fountain. I kept myself hidden and watched everyone scatter around like mice as they seen something to scare them "Take the candy!" a voice shouted. "Take it all!" I recognized the voice and turned to the candy shop to see a familiar face leaving the shop with cart of candy and gasped to what was behind him. Blue snakes with red swirl eyes that can walk while one had a tail and a golden staff. The Serpentine! They were real and existed! I watched the petrified people stare into the snake with the tail and staff eyes and suddenly had red irises and were walking around like mindless zombies. I now knew which tribe this was. The Hypnobrai. Controller of people with hypnosis.

I watched the villagers walk around like they had no mind at all. What was Lloyd doing with the Serpentine in the first place? I just met the kid and in one day he found the tomb. Without thinking, I stood up and jumped down to face him. "Lloyd, what are you doing?" I asked while slowly being surrounded by snakes.

Lloyd stopped to face me. I could see him surprised about me helping him before and now questioning him on his stupidity. These snakes are dangerous. He doesn't know what he has gotten himself into. "I am talking all the candy and with the help from the Serpentine, I can get what I want and my revenge on the stupid ninja." he explained.

So it's a revenge scheme and theft for candy. He has no idea what he got himself into though. I looked at the snake, what I think was the general as he was different than the others, as he glanced at me and hissed with his forked tongue. "What shall we do with him?" he asked.

I froze on his question and looked at Lloyd. He looked at me with a guilty look and mouthed me a sorry. "Get him!" he commanded.

I looked over my shoulders to see the snakes lunge towards me and I quickly jumped over them and ran down the streets with them chasing me. I looked ahead and saw more snakes running towards me from the street ahead. Quickly, I ran up some crates to hop onto the roof to avoid capture. I jumped over a sign and hid behind it and looked at them turning back. I sighed as that was too close. I heard four dragons roaring and looked up to see the ninja's dragons coming back to hopefully stop them and not bully the kid. I heard another scream and it sounded near and looked over to see two Hypnobrai's, two blue, one with a white arms while the other had grey arms with yellow accents on his face, stood in front of Mystake as Logan and five other kids I knew were behind her. She was protecting them. "Look what we have here, Sskales." the blue cobra observed. "New recruits to help us take over Ninjago."

I heard the children under Logan's age yelped and gasped in fear while staying close to Logan and Mystake. The one named Skales gave out a wicked smirk while tasting fear on his forked tongue. "Yess." he agreed. "General Sslitherra would enjoy his recruits as slaves. Even though I despise brats, they'll do fine. Even the older one."

I heard Logan gasp and Mystake moved the children closer to her. "It'll be alright, children." she said to comfort them.

I felt my blood boil in anger and clenched my fists to make my knuckles pop. I ran across the rooftops and jumped over them and landed in front of them in a crouch. The snakes stopped and hissed that I interrupted their plot to take the children away. I shot them with glares of anger and slowly stood up. "Leave them alone." I hissed.

Skales walked ahead of the other to glare at me. "Who are you to interrupt our plans?" he asked.

"I am here to protect them from you reptilian freaks." I remarked in a growl. "Now leave them alone or you'll face the consequences."

The blue cobra and Skales laughed like it was a joke. Which I'm not. "And how will you do that?" he asked. "It's two against one."

I smirked at them. I don't care if I expose myself as a ninja, I have to help them. "Ninjaa-Gooo!" I shouted and enveloped myself in my misty grey tornado and stopped to be dressed in my grey gi and pants with my gloves on and mask over my face. I crossed my arms over my face and stretched them out to have my golden sai's slide from my sleeves and stood in a defensive stance. I looked over my shoulders to see Mystake and the others gasp as I was a ninja and was gonna face against two dangerous snakes. I don't know where the ninja were, this should be fun to face. I haven't had action in a long time.

Skales and the other snake hissed at me angrily and charged. I sheathed my sai's into my belt and charged towards them and performed Spinjitzu to knock them off their feet. The quickly recovered and had me surrounded. Skales threw the first punch and I blocked it with my left arm to move it away and grabbed it with my right. I then drove my right elbow into his scaly arm and slammed my forearm into his neck and watched him fall. That should paralyze him for awhile. Hopefully.

I turned to the other snake as he crept forward while glaring at me with his red swirled eyes of control. He'll never take control of me or the others. I lunged at him and blocked his attacks. I swung my right leg at him and he caught it and twisted it to have my entire body flipped over while I hopped on one foot to maintain my balance. With quick thinking, I hunched my left leg to jump and swung a kick to his face to release my other leg and threw a punch to render him unconscious, but he instead caught it and quickly wrapped his arms around my neck in a headlock. I struggled to shake him off, but gasped to see Skales recovered and smirked to my capture. "Look into my eyes, ninja." he demanded.

*****I quickly shut my eyes from his control and continued to shake the other off. I had an idea and felt around for the snake's foot and found it. I threw my heel into his right shin while bending and felt his weight on my back and his arms loosen. I quickly slipped my head free and dropped to the cobblestone ground and pushed myself back under his legs to be behind them and stood up. Skales was surprised by my escape and charged towards me. I fought against him in close combat as he was using Tae Kwan Do against me, but I ran up his chest and sent my knee into his jaw and then kicked him into the other snake and performed a backflip and landed safely. With those two on the ground, I drew out my sai's and pointed the blades at them. Make this count. "Water!" I shouted, hopefully not loud for the ninja to investigate, and two pressurized streams erupted from the blade towards them. The two snakes screamed and they disappeared and collided into a wall of a shop in front of us.

The two snakes slowly stood up and glared at me. "Retreat!" Lloyd's voice shouted. The two cobras looked at me and left. Hopefully that was the last of them.

I was breathing heavily to my battle and felt sweat form on my brow. It felt great as I haven't had action in three months. I'm sure the ninja thought the same too when Garmadon escaped. I sheathed my sai's and turned to the people I saved and removed my mask to show them my face. The cool snowy air mountain air felt refreshing to cool off. "Children, I want you to go inside until I say it's safe to go home." Mystake said while opening the door for them. The children looked at her, then me, and nodded and went inside. She kept the door open and waved a finger at me. "And you," she began. "In my office. I need to check on something." Crap. Now what? I just saved them and now needs me in her office to possibly discuss about my secret. Sighing, I nodded and followed.

I followed her through the back and up the stairs to her office and waited by her desk while she went to her filing cabinet. What was this about now? I felt like I'm in court and she's both the judge and jury with my verdict of being a criminal. But I'm a ninja though. Mystake fished out a piece of paper and walked back to her desk and placed it on her desk and pushed towards me. I looked down to study the paper and saw it was a missing poster and below it was a picture of me. I gave out a silent gasp and looked at her to see her arms were crossed. "It is you." she exclaimed. "The missing son."

"Mystake, listen..." I began to defend myself.

"Lucas, why aren't you helping the other ninjas if you're one too?" she asked while closing her cabinet.

Sighing, I looked down at my picture of ten-year-old me. "I have a past that had me run away from my father and I've been somewhere with my uncle." I explained. I told her everything. Why I ran away. Where I was. My training from my uncle. Getting Storm and my sai's. And then Garmadon escaping and my exile from the Underworld. "Now you know I am still under the apprenticeship of my uncle, I cannot go back to my father as he thinks I'm gone. Please don't tell him that I'm alive as I don't want to face him."

Mystake looked at me with her unsure chocolate brown eyes and then my picture. She sighed and looked at me. "Give me some time to think on this." she said while picking the piece of paper up and sat down on her chair.

I looked at her with a worried look and nodded and left her alone to think. I walked down the stairs to hear small shouts and screams and turned the corner to expect the Serpentine attacking again, but it was the children climbing on the shelves and counters of the back room. What were they doing? "Logan, what's going on?" I asked him.

Logan jumped off the counter to the ladder and looked at me. "The floor is lava." he replied. It was a game. "Ninja style"

Oh that's great. I influenced them as ninjas because I'm one. But I need them to understand that I have a secret. They know about Storm and they like him as he's gentle with them. Same to Logan but he's afraid of him. I can understand that when I was his age. "Get down here now." I tell them. "I have to talk to you."

"But the floor is lava." a kid with black hair named Tyler stated.

I rolled my eyes and held my gloved hands out. A spray of mist filled the floor before evaporating in the air; this should get them to stop playing. "The lava is cooled now." I exclaimed. "Now get down here. I need to talk to you." I watched the kids climb down and gathered around me. "Now I want you all to do something for me and not go around the village and say that I'm a ninja."

"Why not?" Logan asked. "It was awesome to what you did to those snakes back there. Even when you made that tornado appear and that water from those...letter openers."

"Sai's and Spinjitzu." I corrected him. "And yes what you saw was awesome, but I had to defend you as that's what ninjas do. But I can't have you all going around saying I am one."

"Why not." a girl with black hair and red streaks named Katie, but everyone calls her Kat for short. "People should know you're one like the others."

I sighed and looked at their wondering eyes. "Because," I began and spun in my tornado to be dressed into my jeans and grey tee shirt. "I have a past that I don't want to see. And if you all go around and spread the rumors to your parents, they'll spread it around outside and who's to say that it'll reach the ninja and they'll know a sixth ninja."

"Sixth?" Joseph, a kid around Logan's age with ginger hair, asked confused. "I thought that there were four when I saw them."

"There are four for now and there's the Green Ninja. He's the one who can control all elements. But they haven't found him yet. I'm the sixth ninja as I can control water and they don't know about know about me at all. But I want you all to promise me this, please don't tell everyone I'm a ninja and don't want to be exposed. I want my secret kept from the ninja and someone else. Can you do that for me?" The kids looked at each other and nodded. "Thank you." I smiled. "Now I think it's safe for you all to go home now and keep it a secret." The kids said their goodbyes to me and Logan left for home. Soon after, Logan and I went back to work in quietness without questions of me being a ninja or my elemental powers.

I hope Mystake doesn't contact my father of my existence.

* * *

**Well what did you think of the small meeting of Lucas and Lloyd? Now we know how they met in the first place, but they still don't know they're cousins until later. Anyway, I hoped you all enjoyed today's update and soundtrack. Have a wonderful weekend and see you all next week. :)**


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